There is something deeply rotten at the heart of Tshisekedi’s regime in DRC, and 2025 has exposed it in unforgiving detail.
Agreement after agreement was signed with solemn handshakes and lofty language, only to be discarded almost immediately by Congolese ruler Tshisekedi. What was presented as a march toward peace became the opposite immediately.
The record is damning. In April, a joint communiqué was signed with the M23/AFC. In July came a Declaration of Principles. September brought a mechanism for the release of prisoners. October added a ceasefire monitoring and verification mechanism. November concluded with a framework agreement meant to anchor the entire process. Five acts. Five public commitments. And five betrayals.
From the very beginning, Tshisekedi’s regime distinguished itself by its absolute failure to respect its own signature. To this day, not a single prisoner has been released. Not one. This alone represents a flagrant violation of the agreements and a direct insult to any notion of good faith negotiation. A regime that cannot honor the simplest and most humane clause of a deal cannot be trusted with peace.
Worse still, the ceasefire itself has been systematically sabotaged. Repeated violations, provocations, and deliberate military actions have transformed what was already a fragile truce into an expanding war imposed on civilians in eastern DRC. While diplomats spoke of calm in conference rooms, the regime prepared conflict on the ground.
Ceasefire review meetings were boycotted with remarkable consistency. Doha’s commitments were reduced to a smokescreen, a diplomatic costume worn just long enough to fool external observers. The real strategy was obvious. Buy time. Rearm. Reorganize. Return to war from a stronger position. The agreements were never a path to peace. They were a tactical retreat.
This calculated inaction raises an unavoidable question. Does Tshisekedi’s regime possess any political will to resolve the conflict without force, or is deception its only governing principle? How far is it prepared to go in this escalation?
The coming days will be decisive. The Doha process risks total collapse. The AFC/M23 has shown that when provoked, it can strike hard.
The choice before Tshisekedi’s regime is clear: Honor its word at last, or continue to condemn Congolese to more suffering.