While it should be the prerogative of the regional leaders who put in place the peace frameworks for eastern DRC to monitor and evaluate the progress of the implementation and recommend the way forward, the Kinshasa regime has usurped the this responsibility, completely invalidating the Luanda and Nairobi peace mechanisms. In order to find justification to escalate the conflict, the Kinshasa regime started peddling false claims that the M23 Movement was “playing games” and not complying with the Luanda recommendations. Without allowing the regional leaders to make assessment of these claims, the Kinshasa regime has escalated their attacks on M23 positions as they prepare to withdraw from areas of Kishishe as pledged during the last handover of Rumangabo to the EACRF. The FARDC supported by mercenaries and the traditional coalition of FARDC, FDLR, APCLS, PARECO, NYATURA and Maimai have escalated their attacks, using the newly acquired heavy weapons from Turkey and raids by Sukhoi jet fighters.
As the M23 Movement continues to put into action the agreement achieved at the Luanda Summit last year by disengaging and withdrawing from areas captured during operations carried out against the coalition of FARDC, FDLR, APCLS, PARECO, NYATURA and Maimai to dissuade them from bombing civilians, the coalition, which now includes the notorious European mercenaries have continued to carry out attacks in violation of the ceasefire agreement.
Tshisekedi is determined to perpetuate the violence because a peaceful resolution does not favour his plans of using violence as an alibi to postpone the upcoming presidential elections so that he can avoid the embarrassment of being disgraced out of power. On Saturday, December 31, as the M23 was meeting with the EACRF to workout the modalities of the next handover of territory, the coalition supported by the Wagner mercenaries attacked M23 positions in Kamatember and Bwiza in Rutchuru areas, an attack that was condemned by the EACRF commander during the meeting. However, the international community that has always been quick to make ill-advised condemning statements against the M23 Movement have continued to ignore these serious violations by the Kinshasa junta.
The obvious bias of the international community contradicts their overt calls for a peaceful resolution of the conflict in DRC. The attitude of some actors in the international community is clearly undermining the efforts by regional leaders who have shown their goodwill to work towards lasting peace in eastern Congo. The M23 is a Congolese movement fighting for the rights of Rwandophones who have been harassed and killed by successive Congolese administrations for many decades. As the United Nations agency charged with fighting genocide has stated severally, Congolese leaders have continued to ethnic hatred which has resulted in killings and harassment of Congolese Tutsi, which have escalated to genocide proportions.
With the entry of mercenaries into the conflict, the efforts and gains made by the regional mechanisms will only be reversed and the situation could easily escalate into a regional conflict. While the entities in the conflict are bound by the Luanda and Nairobi processes, the European mercenaries are not, which means that Tshisekedi’s intentions are to see the conflict persist, by circumventing regional peace mechanisms, and if the recent statement is anything to go by, the main objective is to cancel the upcoming elections.