As the residents of Goma, North Kivu, were still reeling from the aftermaths of the Republican Guard murder spree that killed more than 50 civilians, Congolese Communications Minister Patrick Muyaya and State Minister in the Ministry of Justice Rose Mutombo presented the second edition of the Livre Blanc (White Book), a document that supposedly exposes the humanitarian tragedy that Rwanda has inflicted on the DR Congo. Muyaya insisted that this document provides irrefutable proof of criminal activities run by Rwanda. To date, Muyaya’s office has failed to produce the said Livre Blanc II; therefore, these assertions are yet to be substantiated. But this fact will not deter Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi from using the elusive Livre Blanc II accusations against Rwanda at the United Nations General Assembly today. Fatshi is always right For a man who claims to want peace, Tshisekedi has gone out of his way to escalate hostilities. First, he has selectively interpreted the Nairobi and Luanda regional peace initiatives to alter the East African Community Regional Force’s (EACRF’s) mandate and escape the central requirement of any political process: dialogue. For months now, the Congolese government has refused to dialogue with the M23 rebels, that even last night [September 19] in New York, he called a ‘terrorist organisation.’ Dismissal of political process is an approach of someone who is courting war. At the same time, Tshisekedi doesn’t plan to fight the war since he continues to tour the world, outsourcing his security responsibilities to the East African Community (EAC), the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and other international actors. Second, Kinshasa wants MONUSCO, which Tshisekedi accuses of failing to bring peace, to fast-track its exit. In the same breath, he incessantly criticises the EAC Regional Force deployed to eastern DR Congo to shake the confidence of the community it serves. Not only has EACRF managed to bring relative security in a few months, but no other Head of State in the region or the international community denies the regional force’s efficiency and results. What Tshisekedi has succeeded at is flooding the region with mercenaries from Eastern Europe to serve his objectives, in violation of the AU’s 1977 Convention for the Elimination of Mercenaries in Africa. Facts are stubborn The DR Congo government wants the world to believe that ‘big Congo’, as they refer to it, is unable to offer a dignified and secure life to its citizens because of ‘small Rwanda.’ Apparently, because of Rwanda, more than two million Congolese people have been displaced; children can’t go to school, and biodiversity has been destroyed. No one can deny that there is a tragic humanitarian situation in DR Congo. But this is the direct consequence of the existence of more than 200 armed groups in the country’s east, most of whom are armed, financed, and employed by Kinshasa, including the anti-Rwanda genocidal militia group, FDLR. Nothing reveals the real cause of the insecurity in the east of DR Congo like the aforementioned events of August 30, when the country’s elite forces shot dead unarmed civilians in an attack against a church and radio station in Goma, North Kivu. Videos of carnage on social media show that in the aftermath of the violent escapade, DR Congo’s bravest and finest and the Western mercenaries threw the victim’s bodies in military tracks, set the church on fire, and began to loot livestock from the local people. As has become custom, the Congolese authorities immediately and predictably blamed Rwanda, claiming that the attack was a deterrent measure against Rwandan forces, which has since been proven to be false. This is not an isolated event, the United Nations Joint Human Rights Office (UNJHRO) has repeatedly shown that DR Congo’s security forces commit by far the most human rights violations in eastern DR Congo. DR Congo must be held accountable At the United Nations General Assembly, DR Congo’s victim-in-chief will undoubtedly point to Rwanda as the ‘real culprit’ of the troubles in the east of the country. However, the absence of good governance and security in DR Congo is not the fault of Rwanda. As indicated above, it is the Congolese government that has deliberately chosen to work against the interests of its people. By constantly letting the DR Congo off the hook, the international community prolongs the conflict in the East and endangers the lives of millions of people in the Great Lakes Region. The author is a political and security commentator
