The African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council has asked the AU Commission to “mobilize requisite support” for SADC military mission in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. (Courtesy photo)
The African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council has asked the AU Commission to “mobilize requisite support” for SADC military mission in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. (Courtesy photo)

The biggest portion of news coming out of Africa this week has been the crisis in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where a rebel group known by its acronym M23 is pitted against the DRC government forces. As of this week, these rebels had managed to overrun one of the strategic towns in the East of DRC, Goma, that shares a border with Rwanda.

Here in the U.S., many people may not be conversant with the root causes of this crisis. However, this is a crisis that has been ongoing for nearly 30 years whose genesis can be traced on two fundamental issues.

One is historical and the other is largely a question of weak and incoherent leadership on the part of DRC.

Historically the colonialists left a big mess in Africa. When they mapped out nations during the Berlin conference of 1884, a big chunk of communities were separated by a mere geographical line of boundary. The demarcation of borders did not consider the homogeneity of communities.

In other words, Africans woke up in the morning and found families and communities that shared similar culture, language, ancestry and blood had been separated.

This is exactly what happened to Congo. When the boundaries were designed, a big chunk of people with strong connections to Rwanda found themselves as citizens of Congo. The only thing that separated them from their kith and kin in Rwanda was an imaginary borderline.

However, this would never have been a problem because it’s a common feature across many African nations. The problem is that for all these post-colonial years, the leadership in DRC has failed to recognize these people as legitimate Congolese who should enjoy equal rights as others. For all these years, they have been a subject of discrimination, humiliation, annihilation and endless torture. The government has instigated hate speech against these people leading to extermination of a big segment.

This is partly why a segment of these people picked up arms to defend themselves against this brutality that has gone on endlessly before the eyes of the international community. It’s why we are seeing this M23 rebellion.

There have been repeated cries to find a peaceful solution to this crisis mainly from the Rwandan leadership, but unfortunately the world has largely chosen to ignore them.

The problem is further aggravated by the inept and weak leadership in Kinshasa. They have chosen to externalize their problem to their neighbors, especially Rwanda as opposed to finding internal solutions. As President Kagame has repeatedly said, this is a Congolese problem that needs a Congolese solution.

The reluctance of the international community to speak truth directly to the DRC leadership has also worsened the situation. The result has been hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing into Rwanda and now some being relocated to the U.S.

Today, DRC leadership has made anti-Rwanda rhetoric a national policy. To win an election in DRC, you have to invoke an anti-Rwanda slogan. The current president of DRC has been irresponsible in his speech — on many occasions threatening to invade Rwanda and topple its leadership. He now wants to amend the constitution for a third term allegedly to “fix” Rwanda.

It’s not too late to fix the problem. The ball lies squarely in the hands of Kinshasa. But unfortunately, there’s little; hope. They have found it comfortable to rely on anti-Rwanda discourse for their political survival and hoodwinking their populace on underperformance.

Of course, their strongest weapon has been the mineral cards. Each time any international partner wants to intervene, they pull out the mineral card. Their stubbornness hinges on the fact that they have a free pass to do whatever pleases their ego since Congo is home to some critical rare earth minerals. Unfortunately, millions of Congolese continue to languish in abject poverty, while the top leadership benefits immensely from these minerals.

Africa’s Great Lakes region has seen its fair share of wars. The region is tired of instability. Countries like Rwanda and some of its neighbors have been making tremendous strides toward socio-economic transformation.

Rwanda has invested heavily in basic infrastructure, the tourism industry and investment promotion, and does this knowing the geopolitical environment has to be conducive for us to reap any dividends.

That’s why a peaceful Congo is in Rwanda’s utmost interests. But Congo shouldn’t see this as a favor to Rwanda — it must see it as a strategic interest in equal measure!

Arthur Asiimwe is the deputy chief of Mission of Rwanda in the United States.

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *