President Paul Kagame attended a mini-summit hosted by President João Lourenço of Angola at the African Union Headquarters, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, late Friday, February 16, to address the root causes of the ongoing insecurity in eastern DR Congo, including bad governance, ethnic discrimination and violence, according to Urugwiro Village. Other regional leaders in attendance included President William Ruto of Kenya, the chairperson of the African Union Commission (AUC), Amb Moussa Faki Mahamat, DR Congo President Felix Tshisekedi, and South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa. This evening at the African Union Headquarters, President Kagame attended a mini-summit hosted by President João Lourenço @jlprdeangola of Angola to address the root causes of the ongoing insecurity in eastern DRC, including bad governance, ethnic discrimination and violence. pic.twitter.com/WbCAr1rejR — Presidency | Rwanda (@UrugwiroVillage) February 16, 2024 Reports indicate that, among other things, leaders from the Great Lakes Region are attempting to stem the latest violence in DR Congo, taking advantage of the 37th African Union Summit in Ethiopia over the weekend. ALSO READ: South Africa sends 2,900 troops to DR Congo despite censure by main opposition party South Africa sent troops to eastern DR Congo as part of a regional force of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), which was deployed in December 2023 to help the Congolese army fight the M23 rebels. Kigali asked the UN to reconsider its intended support to SADC’s military mission in conflict-ridden eastern DR Congo, as the southern African bloc’s decision would be based on the “wrong premises” and could be in favour of forces set against Rwanda's security. According to Kigali, the SADC mission known as SAMIDRC is “not a neutral” force in the conflict in eastern DR Congo, where a government-led coalition fights the M23 rebels, despite the presence of more than 200 armed groups in the region. The Congolese government coalition comprises, among others, SADC troops, Burundian forces, the Rwandan genocidal FDLR militia, European mercenaries, and a host of Congolese militia groups. ALSO READ: Belgian lawyer on why genocide ideology doesn’t dissolve three decades after dispersion of genocidaires President Lourenço is the mediator for the AU-backed Luanda Process, an initiative of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), which seeks to address the conflict in eastern DR Congo and the normalisation of diplomatic relations between Rwanda and DR Congo. ALSO READ: Rwanda raises concerns over DR Congo arming FDLR, indigenous armed groups DR Congo accuses Rwanda of supporting the M23 rebels in its eastern region, an allegation dismissed by Kigali. The latter also accuses DR Congo’s armed forces of collaborating with the UN-sanctioned militia FDLR, which was founded by perpetrators of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. In the past three decades, Rwanda-DR Congo relations have gone through turbulent periods primarily as a result of the presence in eastern DR Congo, of Rwandan genocidal forces whose intention remains to overthrow the government of Rwanda. The unending alliance between FDLR and the Congolese government, in violation of various bilateral, regional and international agreements and resolutions calling for their eradication, has not helped matters. The problem has, over time, been compounded by the stigmatization of Kinyarwanda- speaking Congolese. The latter are deliberately labelled as Rwandans by Congolese politicians, creating a worrying situation whereby thousands of Congolese refugees in Rwanda are denied the right to return home. Worse still, whenever there is a rebellion of Kinyarwanda-speaking Congolese, it is conveniently blamed on Rwanda for Kinshasa’s political gains. ALSO READ: Inside the secret DR Congo-FDLR pact Congolese army war planes violated Rwanda’s airspace three times between November 2022 and January 2023, incidents which the Rwandan government said were among many other provocations by the Congolese government. During his campaign for re-election in 2023, Tshisekedi said he would declare war on Rwanda. ALSO READ: We shall defend Rwanda at all cost – Kagame The FDLR is part of a Congolese government coalition fighting the M23 rebels. The FDLR is accused of spreading violence and genocide ideology targeting Congolese Tutsi communities in eastern DR Congo. Rwanda has, for years, called on the Congolese government to end the collaboration with the FDLR, which has launched attacks on Rwandan territory over the past two decades. In 2019, fighters of RUD Urunana, one of FDLR factions, killed 14 civilians in Musanze District in Northern Province. Despite denial of the cooperation with the FDLR, the Congolese armed forces in November 2023 ordered its soldiers to end ties with members of the terrorist group. But reports say the group has been integrated into the Congolese army. Agreements, commitments not honoured Contrary to Kinshasa’s claims that Kigali backs the rebels, the former played its part in solving the M23 issue by disarming the group’s fighters who fled to Rwanda, in 2013, and handed over their weapons to Congolese authorities. Rwandan authorities also cantoned the ex-combatants in transit camps far from the Congolese border. Kigali also facilitated several engagements between the former M23 representatives and their government. But Kinshasa did not follow through on its agreement with the former M23 fighters living in Rwanda and the joint implementation roadmap on their voluntary repatriation facilitated by the Rwandan government on October 28, 2019. The latest resumption of hostilities in eastern DR Congo followed a pattern of failure by the Congolese government to honor its commitments in signed agreements due to lack of political will to effectively implement signed agreements. Agreements previously signed towards peace and security in eastern DR Congo not fully implemented, hence leading to the reoccurrence of conflicts, also include an agreement between the DR Congo government and the former Congrès National Pour la Défense du Peuple (CNDP) rebellion signed on March 23, 2009; various Nairobi Declarations between the Congolese government and ex-M23, in 2013; and the peace, security, and cooperation framework for the DR Congo and the region signed in Addis Ababa, in 2013. Kigali has often urged regional leaders, and other parties interested in helping end the DR Congo crisis, to pay attention to the root causes instead of the symptoms. Eastern DR Congo has been volatile for nearly 30 years. The provinces of South Kivu, North Kivu and Ituri are home to more than 130 armed groups that are accused of atrocities and human rights violations. Multiple regional and international interventions have failed to end decades of insecurity. South African opposition leader Julius Malema has said his country’s armed forces should not be fighting in eastern DR Congo. Speaking at a news conference on Thursday, February 15, following the death of two South African soldiers in DR Congo, the leader of South Africa's second-largest opposition party, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), said members of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) were “not properly trained” and “must come back home.” Earlier, in January, South Africa’s main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, described as a “reckless decision” the country’s deployment of troops to eastern DR Congo as part of a regional mission by the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
