Regional leaders who have been working tireless to help defuse the conflict in Congo were recently treated to another shocking yet cowardly act by the Congolese ruler Felix Tshisekedi and his closest cronies.
In a renewed move to deny peace a chance, the Kinshasa regime planned and executed mass protests targeting East African Community Regional Forces-EACRF troops. Tshisekedi has established himself as a resolute saboteur of peace. He has sustained his stance of not holding dialogue with the Congolese Revolutionary Movement- M23 even when all regional gatherings on Congo have resolved dialogue as only means to attain peace.
In Bujumbura, a frustrated Tshisekedi signaled an imminent plot to harm members of the regional forces. The regime incited the Congolese population against the foreign troops to push them out of the country.
A leaked intelligence report indicates that, after the EACRF vacate DRC, Tshisekedi will declare a state of emergency in the Eastern Congo. Subsequently, the December general elections will be postponed on grounds of insecurity in some parts of the country.
In full glare of the cameras in front of Kenyan President William Ruto, the agitated Tshisekedi attacked the EACRF Commander- Gen Jeff Nyagah asking him why his forces aren’t “helping Congo”. He lambasted the officer for “supporting M23” just because the forces have refused to launch offensives againts the M23.
Tshisekedi and his cronies misconstrued the EACRF’s mandate thinking the forces would act to serve their selfish interests in vain. They were deployed to bring peace not to engage in war with a particular party to the conflict.
Despite appeals by regional Heads of State in Nairobi, Luanda and Bujumbura; Tshisekedi has ditched dialogue with the M23 movement yet it’s the only workable solution that’s seen as lasting remedy to the conflict that has claimed thousands of lives and displaced others in neighboring countries.
Meanwhile, a genocide against Congolese Tutsi population goes on unabated; if the International Community is really interested in bringing peace to the Eastern Congo; they should put Tshisekedi to task to implement all regional peace frameworks’ resolutions including ending hate speech and all inciting rhetoric, a strict ceasefire and holding dialogues with his opponents.