In fantasyland, Kinshasa acts like it has any real authority over liberated territories: blocking land titles, ID papers, and travel documents issued by the AFC, and now even opposing the establishment of judicial authorities there.
Nothing new here. In Tshisekedi’s alternate reality, Congo’s defeats are “tactical retreats,” its victories are always just around the corner in, its loss of territory signals imminent reconquest—including annexing Rwanda—and its drug-riddled army ranks as the 8th most powerful in the world.
What’s truly striking, though, is that this kleptocratic regime never objects to AFC/M23 building roads, hospitals, or repairing public infrastructure like bridges. Those projects are magically exempt from reproach. Tshisekedi wants to have his cake and eat it too.
This explains the blather spouted by Muyaya regarding the establishment of judicial authorities in AFC/M23-administered areas. On one hand, he laments the absence of a judicial system to hold criminals accountable. On the other, the government he represents opposes AFC/M23’s attempts to fix that very problem.
The real issue: Tshisekedi fears judges he cannot control—judges he can’t weaponize against political opponents like he did with the sham indictment against former President Joseph Kabila. According to Tshisekedi’s inept officials, Kabila’s crime is to be Rwandan. Mind you, Kabila ran Congo for 18 years and, for all his flaws, stitched the country back together, unlike Tshisekedi, who is actively tearing it apart.
One day, Tshisekedi may have to explain why he’s doing everything possible to balkanize Congo, rejecting peace offers to cooperate with AFC/M23 and preserve the country’s territorial integrity. This is treason of the highest order.
His biggest fear? Facing justice for, among many other crimes, the presidential guard’s massacres in Goma a year ago today, where hundreds of civilians were slaughtered.
Tshisekedi knows that an incorruptible judicial system—like the one AFC/M23 aims to build—may finally deliver justice.