Joe Wilson, a member of the US House of Representatives, has called on Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi to take meaningful steps toward peace in eastern DR Congo, emphasizing the need to commit to efforts to de-escalate tensions. “Felix Tshisekedi must get serious about the peace process in the Eastern [DR Congo] now,” Wilson said in a post on X on Wednesday, February 5. ALSO READ: AFC/M23 appoints new governor for North Kivu The congressman weighed in the crisis, which was escalated by the capture of the strategic city of Goma by AFC/M23 rebels on January 27. The Congolese leader has repeatedly ruled out any possibility of peace talks with M23. On Saturday, February 8, leaders from the East African Community (EAC) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) will meet in the Dar es Salam, Tanzania, to deliberate on the measures to resolve the conflict, which has stained relations between Rwanda and DR Congo. ALSO READ: EAC leaders urge DR Congo to ‘engage with’ M23 rebels The Congolese government accuses Rwanda of supporting the M23 rebels – allegations Rwanda dismisses, pointing to the security threat posed by the coalition of the Congolese army, the genocidal FDLR militia, Wazalendo groups, Burundian forces and SADC troops and their plans to wage a war on Rwanda. Tshisekedi skipped a meeting of the EAC heads of state that convened on January 29 to deliberate the crisis. The EAC leaders demanded that the Congolese leader “directly engage” with the M23 rebels among other parties to the conflict. “The EAC-SADC summit in Dar es Salaam is an opportunity for [DR Congo] to work together with Paul Kagame for peace, not point fingers and deepen tensions,” said the American lawmaker. “The crisis in Goma is in the hands of Tshisekedi,” he added. https://x.com/repjoewilson/status/1886879302182125583?s=46 Both Kagame and Tshisekedi are expected to attend the summit in Dar es Salam. President Kagame recently pointed to Tshisekedi’s absence when leaders are discussing the DR Congo crisis as a challenge to efforts to find a lasting solution. “When you have a problem, you must look for the cause. So, the man has a problem and he doesn't even appear for discussion to find the solution,” Kagame said in an interview with CNN on February 3. ALSO READ: DR Congo crisis: We must avoid manipulation, Kagame to EAC leaders During the EAC summit, Kagame also accused Tshisekedi of manipulating other leaders as they sought to address the conflict and it causes. He said this led to the failure of previous attempts by the bloc to find a lasting solution to the DR Congo crisis, including the deployment of the East African Community Regional Force (EACRF) in late 2022, which was one year later chased out by Tshisekedi. The force, which had managed to monitor a ceasefire for at least six months, was later expelled by Tshisekedi, who was unhappy that it had not joined his coalition’s attacks on M23 positions—a move that would have violated the force’s mandate as a neutral actor. ALSO READ: Malawi orders troops out of eastern DR Congo “Tshisekedi felt we were not doing what he wanted, he went to SADC, which agreed to come and do what he wanted, so he sent everybody else packing,” Kagame recalled. “And that we complied with and kept quiet, what did we expect to come out of that?” Kagame said, urging the EAC leaders to recognise the impact of the failed attempts at peace. Kagame stressed that the conflict will be resolved by addressing its root causes, which include the persecution of Congolese Tutsi communities and the presence of the FDLR, a group founded by remnants of the perpetrators of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, and which is supported by the Congolese armed forces.
