It is surprising how media outlets, especially those from the West, continue to insinuate – in their typically biased reporting – that the East African Regional Force “has failed to fight the M23.” But this has never been their mission.
When regional leaders came together to create a force that would go to eastern DRC to facilitate the return of peace and help the midwife in a process that would guarantee lasting peace, an offensive force was not on the table.
In their justified wisdom, the leaders reasoned that since a military solution had failed to solve the problem in 2013, it would not work in 2023 either. That is why they saw it fit to send the EACRF not to engage in combat with the M23 and other armed groups, but to create a buffer zone between the Kinshasa regime army (FARDC) and their allied armed groups that include FDLR, to allow a political process to take place.
However, the Western media has chosen to ignore the facts enshrined in the standing orders of regional leaders given to the EACRF and instead preferred the propaganda peddled by the Kinshasa regime- which has refused to implement its part of the peace deal.
The Western media is not helping matters by propagating the misleading narrative created by Tshisekedi, Lutundula, and Muyaya, whose interest is served by the perpetuation of the conflict.
The original idea, to which the Kinshasa regime agreed, was that the M23 would halt their advance and withdraw from territories they already had captured, to sit with the Kinshasa regime and negotiate.
However, we are witnessing only one side of the conflict -the M23, implementing their part of the deal while the Kinshasa regime does the talking, behaving as if they are the facilitators. As they complain about M23, their allied armed groups including FDLR, are still roaming free, killing and pillaging in Masisi.