The Kinshasa regime has continued to push the narrative that the cantonment and disarmament of the M23 fighters is the antidote for peace in eastern Congo.
However, this narrative is not only self-serving but also aimed at misleading the regional and international stakeholders into administering the wrong remedy to the conflict that has claimed hundreds of Tutsi Congolese lives and property.
First and foremost, eastern DRC is home to more than 266 armed groups, including the remnants of genocide perpetrators in Rwanda, and majority of these groups are now allied to the national army-FARDC and have been rebranded as ‘reservists’ or ‘local self-defence groups’ by the Kinshasa regime.
These notorious armed groups have been conditioned by the Kinshasa regime to adapt a hostile attitude towards the M23 Movement, and are therefore dependable comrades-in-arms.
By advocating and nudging for the hasty cantonment of the M23 fighters, the Kinshasa regime has several hidden agendas lined up. First and foremost, they want to get rid of the pressure exerted on them by the M23 Movement both militarily and politically.
Secondly, once the M23 fighters are cantoned and disarmed, the Kinshasa regime has a heinous plan of massacring them in cold blood, with the false assumption that this would solve their political problems for good.
The Kinshasa regime used the same trick in 2010 when the International Community and the region asked the M23 Movement to withdraw from Goma in return for negotiations with the regime.
Instead of keeping their word, the FARDC, supported by Kikwete and Zuma’s Force Intervention Brigade-FIB, attacked the M23 fighters in their cantonment site and declared them defeated.
There is no doubt that the Kinshasa regime intends to employ the same trick once again, which is the reason they are pushing for the cantonment of the M23 fighters but not mentioning the other armed groups, including the FDLR and the newly created ‘wazalendo’ group which is in reality a combined force of FARDC and FDLR disguised as ‘local self-defense youth groups.’