Africa-Press – Rwanda. Concerned by the international community’s non-stop glossing over issues, the Government of Rwanda has, once again, stressed the need for the United Nations Security Council to focus on the root causes of eastern DR Congo’s endless predicament as well as taking Rwanda’s security concerns seriously so as to find a sustainable solution to the conflict.
On Friday, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution that condemned the ongoing offensive and advance of AFC/M23 rebels in their country’s east but made no mention of the fundamental issues including the fact that a genocidal ideology, and agenda, remains central to the crisis.
Kigali has, so often, explained that growing violent ethnic extremism in the region continues, particularly affecting Kinyarwanda-speaking Congolese communities, a situation that led to the M23 rebellion years ago. President Paul Kagame has described the conflict in DR Congo as an ethnic war in which a section of Congolese citizens is denied its rights, and Rwanda is scapegoated for the consequences.
VIDEO: Bukavu residents relieved as M23 secures city, battles genocide ideology
Since January, the rebels advanced across North and South Kivu provinces, liberating swathes of territory, after repulsing a vast Congolese army coalition that includes hundreds of European mercenaries, Rwandan genocidal militias known as FDLR, Congolese ethnic militias calle d Wazalendo, Burundian armed forces, South African-led SADC forces, as well as UN peacekeepers. FDLR is a DR Congo-based terrorist militia founded by remnants of the masterminds of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. Its plan is to return to Rwanda, forcefully, and continue its genocidal agenda.
Following the heavy fighting triggered by constant violations of an earlier set ceasefire by the Congolese armed forces (FARDC) in coalition, on January 27, the rebels captured Goma, the capital of North Kivu Province, and quickly moved to secure and stabilise the situation and restore order there.
As the security situation in South Kivu deteriorated amid reports of violence, looting, and abuses propagated by the Congolese army coalition, the rebels moved again and, first captured the strategic airport of Kavumu, before moving south to capture the regional capital, Bukavu, on February 15. Before that happened, people were urging them to quickly move in, and secure the entire city.
By and large, people in rebel-controlled areas in North and South Kivu provinces are relieved that the Congolese army coalition is not disturbing their peace.
At a United Nations Security Council briefing on the DR Congo situation, on Friday, February 21, Amb. Ernest Rwamucyo, Rwanda’s Permanent Representative to the UN, stressed the need, and importance, of taking Rwanda’s security concerns seriously.
Kigali decided to maintain defensive measures along the border with DR Congo as long as security threats from the Congolese army (FARDC) and its allies such as the genocidal militia, exist.
Rwamucyo said: “We believe that any outcome that doesn’t take Rwanda’s security concerns seriously will not offer a sustainable solution to the conflict.
“The security challenges posed by FDLR and its splinter groups are of very serious concern for Rwanda.”
The envoy reiterated Kigali’s stance that the Congolese government must be held accountable for “its continued preservation of FDLR,” embedding it in its army, equipping it with sophisticated weapons and using it as an ally and fighting force.
When the Rwanda Patriotic Army took over power and stopped the Genocide against the Tutsi, in July 1994, the ousted genocidal regime’s army (ex-FAR), politicians, and Interahamwe militia that had committed Genocide – runaway, en masse, with their weapons, to eastern DR Congo, then known as Zaire.
The remnants of the ousted genocidal regime’s army and millitia later banded together into what they called the Army for the Liberation of Rwanda (ALIR). In 2000, soon after the US government listed it as a terrorist organization following its murder of American tourists in Uganda’s Bwindi forest, they formed FDLR so as to evade or distance themselves from their horrendous crimes.
On May 1, 2000, its initiators gathered in a large hall in Lubumbashi, DR Congo’s second-largest city in the southeasternmost part, along the border with Zambia, and formed FDLR.
‘Legitimate grievances of Kinyarwanda-speaking Congolese’
“Any outcome that ignores the legitimate grievances of the Kinyarwanda-speaking Congolese which are at the root cause of the existence of M23 will also not help resolve the conflict.”
Kigali has stressed that M23’s resurgence is rooted in historical persecution, and not Rwanda’s “backing” as Kinshasa would like the world to believe.
The war between the Congolese government army coalition that includes FDLR, over 10,000 Burundian troops, 1,600 European mercenaries, and South Africa-led SADC forces, against M23 rebels started in 2021. M23 is now part of a larger rebel coalition, Alliance fleuve Congo (AFC), created in December 2023.
The AFC is fighting for governance that supports basic human rights, secures all Congolese citizens, and addresses the root causes of conflict. Its leaders have vowed to uproot tribalism, nepotism, corruption, and genocide ideology, among other vices, widespread in DR Congo.
Rwanda is concerned by the UN’s focus on M23 and “total silence on the humongous humanitarian violations committed across many parts” of DR Congo, including the massacres, rapes and [rights] violations by CODECO, ADF, and other armed groups in Ituri, Beni, and South Kivu, the envoy said.
Rwanda acknowledges, he reiterated, fully commends and is committed to the efforts of the AU, East African Community (EAC) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
Since the Security Council meeting on Wednesday, February 19, on Friday, EAC Chiefs of Defence met in Nairobi, Kenya, as a follow up on the outcome of the joint EAC-SADC Summit.
Later, on Monday, February 24, the joint Chiefs of Defence of both EAC and SADC are scheduled to meet and draw a joint roadmap in line with the recommendation of the joint summit that was held in Dar-Es-Salaam. Kigali is calling on the Security Council to “support these efforts and avoid being dragged into the risk of undermining regional efforts.”
He recalled that the chaos on Kinshasa streets and the burning of embassies and foreign missions was also addressed in passing. The Council cannot be selective in its condemnation as the DR Congo conflict is complex, multifaceted, and the Council must address it comprehensively working with all partners and stakeholders involved, Rwamucyo said.
Last month, close to 300 European mercenaries who survived the rebels’ advance on Goma surrendered and were given safe passage, through Rwanda, to return home.
Only Russia has condemned the silence by Western countries over Kinshasa’s recruitment of mercenaries to fight rebels in the east of the country.
“We all saw they surrender weapons to MONUSCO peacekeepers, and footage of the subsequent transportation of European mercenaries to Kigali was broadcast around the world. We believe that those events do not entirely correspond with how Russia views the UNSC’s mandate of the mission,” Russia’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, said during the special sitting of the UN Security Council, on Wednesday.
Nonetheless, on Friday, Rwamucyo said that Rwanda remains fully committed to regional initiatives aimed at attaining peace and will “continue to meet its part of the bargain playing a constructive role for the sake of sustainable peace, security and stability in our region.”
Rwamucyo also called upon DR Congo to head the regional call, immediately return to the peace process, and commit to inclusive dialogue with state and non-state actors (armed or not armed), including M23, as outlined in the EAC-SADC recommendations endorsed by the AU summit.
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