The Democratic Republic of Congo on Monday, October 31, effected the expulsion of Rwanda’s ambassador to the country over allegations that Rwanda was supporting rebel group formed by Congolese citizens with legitimate grievances against their government. This was a culmination of a sustained campaign by Congolese in an effort to project their internal challenges on Rwanda, whose only mistake could have been sharing a geographical area with the neighbour to the west. Different initiatives have been mooted at regional, continental and even at global level, mainly under the auspices of the UN, but security challenges have persisted in DR Congo, mainly in the eastern part of the vast country. To give it context, currently, the country is home to over 120 armed groups, many of them have been there for decades. One of these groups is M23, which the Congolese government is accusing (without proof) of being backed by Rwanda. These armed groups include foreigners like FDLR, a militia formed by Rwandans who committed the Genocide against the Tutsi who fled to DR Congo in 1994 and has been accused in various reports – including by the UN – of committing atrocities against Congolese citizens in their own country. In fact, some of the grievances by M23 include an appeal for their government to stop giving FDLR free-reign to kill, loot and main their compatriots, atrocities they have openly committed for close to 30 years. Instead, the Congolese government chose to arm and embed FDLR in the ranks of their national armed forces to fight M23, a movement of Congolese citizens who are seeking protection by their government from the same foreign militia. However, instead of sticking to all these peace mechanisms already in place, DR Congo has always chosen escapism, accusing Rwanda of fomenting insecurity in the country’s east despite various reports pointing elsewhere. The leadership in Kinshasa has looked on, and to a large extent supported the sustained persecution and hate speech targeting Congolese of Rwandan origin and demonizing Kigali. Until the leadership in Kinshasa realizes that the solution to their challenges lies within their own borders, these challenges will remain and not even expelling the ambassador of a neighbouring country without due diplomatic process will help them.
