Some significant members of the international community have been sending mixed signals concerning their position on the conflict in eastern Congo. While they portray themselves as supportive of the Luanda and Nairobi peace initiatives that were collectively initiated by leaders of the region, there have been utterances that seemed to contradict this seemingly collective position.
For instance, recently, the Ambassador of the US to DRC, Lucy Tamlyn made worrying utterances that left everyone wondering whether the envoy was aware that the East African Community was active in the east of DRC, where commendable progress had been registered in record time. After a meeting with the Congolese defense minister, Jean Pierre Bemba, the US Ambassador was quoted as having stated that the United States recognizes the importance of respecting the Nairobi and Luanda agreements and that the US would continue bilateral and multilateral diplomacy so that these agreements can be respected and also called on all stakeholders to respect the roadmaps.
She is said to have also added that ‘Rwandan forces to leave DRC’ and also for the M23 to retreat to the point indicated in the Luanda agreement. Before this, there had been equally deliberately ignorant utterances by the EU representative and the Belgian Ambassador concerning the conflict in the east of DRC.
During the G7 Summit in Hiroshima last week, it is reported that the members spared time to ‘condemn the advance of the M23 and demanded its unconditional withdrawal’. These utterances are reckless and insensitive to the dynamics of the conflict in the east of the DRC. The message that clearly comes out of these reckless remarks by members of the international community is the fact that their thoughts are not sincerely invested in finding a lasting solution to the root causes of the conflict but rather, they are interested in maintaining a cordial relationship with the present regime in Kinshasa for short term gains.
That is the reason they make utterances aimed at appeasing the Kinshasa regime, as they compete for mining concessions with the corrupt leaders of the regime.
In the meantime, the Congolese people will continue to face suffering as a result of unresolved conflicts that will continue to cause displacement, hunger, and diseases.