How the Washington Accords implementation is a do or die deal for the African continent

The Washington Accords for Peace and Prosperity between Rwanda and DR Congo are signed and done with. However, whether the letter and spirit of those accords will be respected is almost wholly dependent upon the man who expressed this very wish, after signing: President Tshisekedi. Knowing his impulsive mood swings, it’ll call for a heavy foot on his toes. In the first place, it’s confusing that people echo his assertions that Rwanda is in conflict, in argument, with DR Congo. Rwanda asks that Kinshasa stop supporting UN-US-censored terrorist FDLR and incorporating it in its army. No argument here, methinks. ALSO READ: Why genocide ideology doesn’t dissolve three decades after dispersion of genocidaires The world knows FDLR to comprise remnants of the genocidaires whose wish, much as it be wishful thinking, is to return and consummate the Genocide against the Tutsi. Wishful or not, the threat is there; terrorists are terrorists, no matter the number, age, place. Who disagrees with its elimination, as DR Congo does, disagrees with common decency. Decency is a pursuit of the world. Who disagrees with it, is not at variance with Rwanda but the world. DR Congo asserts that Rwanda’s army is present on its soil. Everyone knows that if RDF were to have supported AFC/M23, Kinshasa would’ve fallen within weeks of M23 relaunching its insurgency. Such a fall has ever happened before, even with a fledgeling RPA. If it was possible when it meant walking, imagine today with airlifters. That Kinshasa still stands is enough testimony that Rwanda isn’t on Congolese soil. Rwanda states that she is only maintaining defensive measures, like when she had to intercept surface-to-air missiles launched from Goma, by an assortment of fierce forces: FARDC/FDLR; Wazalendo, its add-on militias; European mercenaries; Burundi army; South African army, its Tanzania, Malawi addenda; all with a nudge from MONUSCO, with blessings from its ‘proprietors’. ALSO READ: AFC/M23 leader Corneille Nangaa states four reasons why his movement is fighting Tshisekedi govt No sane country would acquiesce to dropping her defensive measures but, in the interest of peace and prosperity for the region, Rwanda would be ready to even dissolve her army! As much as Rwanda will defend herself against any aggressor, it’s especially against FDLR that her defensive measures are in place. If even those Security Council sponsors of MONUSCO talk in hush tones in reference to this group, it surely means there is something hugely evil behind it. Or else, why has this gang of terrorists been given free rein to sow mayhem in the Great Lakes Region for as long as it has? Since MONUSCO was given the mandate to neutralise FDLR, in its close-to-30-year existence, has it ever been seen to try and fail? ALSO READ: Inside FDLR’s frontline base 3km from Rwanda border When FDLR was levying taxes, maiming and killing Congolese and extending the genocide against the Congolese Tutsi there, didn’t MONUSCO seem to stand watch, not intervene? When FDLR crossed into Rwanda and killed innocents, did MONUSCO assist Rwanda in halting that? And when the Congolese government drafted FDLR into its army and put it in the lead of assaulting Rwanda, wasn’t it under MONUSCO’s watch? For all the above and more, this long-standing, humongous, overcapitalised lounger-group has never been asked to account for its deployment. That oversight, if oversight it be, lies with its patrons. And those patrons, Security Council members, what is their capital? Washington. Which is why I see an amusing synopsis to all the above and the man in aid of whom it was done: Tshisekedi. In snubbing his African peers for a ‘top-tier’ capital, Washington, Tshisekedi didn’t only land himself in the horns of dilemma but also in the hands of irony! Peddling stones for arms and war-partners against 'a small enemy across the border' had always worked miracles for him. But it didn’t achieve its ultimate goal; it was with small-league players. So, he must have gloated, why not take it to the capital of big-league players? Well, his trick seems to have blown up in his face when he was asked to sit down with the ‘small enemy across the border’ and “talk peace and prosperity.” President Donald Trump, whatever others may see in him, must be lauded for spotting the sense of reason that only rapprochement can bring peace to the GLR. If he is out for the GLR resources and to keep China at bay or for a Nobel Peace Prize, what the heck? The operative word is legitimacy. Genuine trade between USA and GLR would be a turning point against the way the West has always plundered African resources. If, in the bargain, Trump is named for the Nobel, it’d be an honest win for a man who wants peace where Western peers have striven to stroke the fires of strife and pillage. Tshisekedi must not be allowed to use the Uvira take-over as excuse to derail this implementation. Let the Doha Peace Talks take care of that. The Joint Oversight Committee must put its foot to the fire and see that its Joint Oversight Committee delivers. And, MONUSCO, seize this opportunity to redeem yourself! ALSO READ: Burundian, Congolese soldiers withdraw to Bujumbura amid M23 rebel advance - reports Imagine a bullet train rail joining the Indian Ocean to the Atlantic. It’s a wee bit of the opportunities available if the whole effort is put into effect. Surprise, surprise! Interestingly, in an effort to manipulate big powers, Tshisekedi may have inadvertently kick-started a vehicle that turns the GLR into a nucleus for Africa’s great growth!

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How the Washington Accords implementation is a do or die deal for the African continent