<
https://theconversation.com/drc-rwanda-crisis-whats-needed-to-prevent-a-regional-war-224345>
"In the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), South African,
Burundian and Tanzanian troops are fighting against the Rwandan army, which has
deployed in support of the rebellion by the March 23 Movement, or M23.
Soldiers from South Africa and Burundi, as well as from the United Nations
peacekeeping mission, have recently suffered casualties. In the crossfire,
civilians have fled: seven million Congolese are now displaced due to this and
multiple other crises in the DRC.
Diplomats are concerned: the conflict in the eastern DRC was the subject of a
special meeting at the United Nations Security Council on 20 February 2024 and
a mini-summit on the sidelines of the African Union annual meeting of heads of
state on 16 February.
Rwanda, which has denied backing M23, says the Rwandan rebel group – Forces
Démocratiques pour la Libération du Rwanda (FDLR) – which includes combatants
who participated in the 1994 genocide, has been fully integrated into the
Congolese army. It also claims that the Congolese government is engaged in
“massive combat operations” aimed at expelling Congolese Tutsi civilians.
The Congolese government has mounted a campaign against Rwanda. In December,
while he campaigned for re-election, President Félix Tshisekedi compared his
Rwandan counterpart to Adolf Hitler and accused him of expansionist aims.
In January, the Burundian president Évariste Ndayishimiye closed his border
with Rwanda and accused the country of backing rebels against him. He stopped
just short of calling for Kagame’s ouster.
We have been working on the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
for around 20 years. This wave of violence resembles previous ones, but is also
different. At the root of the M23 conflict are countries such as Rwanda and
Uganda, intent on projecting power and influence into the eastern DRC, while
the Congolese government seems incapable and often unwilling to stabilise its
own territory. Donors and United Nations peacekeepers provide humanitarian aid,
but do little to transform these dynamics.
Resolving this crisis will require less hypocrisy from foreign donors, the end
of Rwandan aggression, and a more accountable Congolese government. But the
hopes of a grand bargain are far off, for now. The current peace processes – a
“Nairobi process” for domestic negotiations and a “Luanda process” for regional
talks – are dead or on life support.
The upcoming elections in Rwanda (July 2024) and the US (November 2024) will
likely not help cool heads or focus minds. But it is clear that ending the
violence will require a new approach, one that places the lives of innocent
Congolese civilians at its centre."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
