Appearing on a television show, Patrick Muyaya, the communication minister for DRC, stated that the integration of ex-M23 fighters into the FARDC, should the Doha process come to an end, would be done on a case by case basis.
Noisy Muyaya shamelessly delivered this declaration like a final verdict of the Doha process and as if Kinshasa is just executing instructions. Except it hasn’t. Not even close.
The talks are ongoing, one would say, if not dragging due to Kinshasa’s subversive posture.
Tshisekedi and his communication crony Muyaya are doing what they do best, speaking with finality where there should be caution, and posturing instead of engaging.
What Muyaya conveniently leaves out is that integration of M23 is not even the core of the discussion. The M23 did not pick up arms to beg for jobs in FARDC. The movement has consistently demanded a halt to hate speech, an end to anti-Tutsi ethnic cleansing, the neutralization of FDLR, and respect for the rights of Congolese refugees.
All of this is on the table.
The same government that rolled out the red carpet for Wazalendo bandits, invited FDLR genocidaires to fight side by side with its army, and allowed foreign militias to operate freely on its soil, now wants to lecture people on who qualifies for army integration. Spare us the hypocrisy.
The Tshisekedi regime has shown zero interest in resolving anything. It has always treated M23 like a public relations problem to be dismissed, not a political issue to be addressed. And when the pressure builds, they reach for the usual trick: paint M23 as unworthy, violent, criminal. The same tired narrative.
What DR Congo refuses to admit is that sustainable peace in the east will not come from press statements or selective vetting. It will come from honest reckoning. That means facing the reality of state-sponsored ethnic hatred. It means confronting the history of broken promises. It means dismantling the machinery of FDLR and stopping the campaign of dehumanization against Congolese Tutsis.
Muyaya’s “case by case” fantasy is nothing more than a distraction. A desperate attempt to maintain control over a situation Kinshasa has long lost grip on. If Doha is to mean anything, then let it proceed without preconditions and without posturing.