Following two futile meetings in Luanda, Tshisekedi was yesterday in Lomé, Togo, to meet President Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé in what his regime called “sustained campaign” to find an alternative solution for the eastern provinces of the DRC.
The Lomé visit is not about peace. It is a fresh adventure in squandering public funds and confusing regional leaders.
Tshisekedi knows, better than anyone, that no miracle solution exists outside the clearly charted path laid down in Doha and no reinforced by the Washington Accords. Every other route is political tourism, not diplomacy.
What Kinshasa refuses to admit is that both Luanda and Lomé delivered the same message, politely but firmly. Ceasefire. Dialogue. Direct talks with M23. No shortcuts, no military illusions, no parallel processes designed to save face while the country bleeds.
Yet even as these messages were being repeated, Tshisekedi’s army was busy opening new fronts. FARDC has resumed military attacks against M23 positions, particularly around Uvira, in total contradiction of the commitments he pretends to support abroad. This double game is no longer subtle. It is reckless.
You cannot campaign for peace in hotel conference rooms while waging war on the ground. Regional leaders are not fools. They see the inconsistency, and they are growing tired of it.
The Luanda meetings with him might have agreed on a number of things privy to the public as of now, but they will definitely collapse like the previous ones because Kinshasa has never been serious. Lomé will produce the same outcome if Tshisekedi continues to believe that movement, noise, and diplomacy-by-press-release can replace political courage. Peace is not summoned by flights and communiqués. It is built through compliance.
Doha and Washington already outlined the framework. Neutralisation of genocidal forces. Addressing root causes. Inclusive political dialogue. Ceasefire as a starting point, not a concession. Tshisekedi signed on to this path, then immediately began looking for exits.
While Kinshasa burns money and time, realities on the ground continue to shift. Territory changes hands. Local populations adapt. Power recalibrates itself. History in the Congo shows one constant: when leaders refuse dialogue and choose denial, events move faster than their speeches.
If Tshisekedi continues to violate agreed frameworks, he should not be surprised to wake up to breaking news that Katanga, too, has been liberated by M23. Conflicts do not freeze themselves out of courtesy for bad faith leaders.
The eastern Congo crisis does not need another diplomatic tour. It needs honesty, restraint, and adherence to commitments already made. Anything else is theatre.
And theatre, in the Congo, has always been expensive.