By Stephanie Nyombayire
What is happening in Eastern DRC is a failure of the international community. 28 years, $1billion a year later, when genocidaire FDLR are integrated into FARDC and empowered to shell Rwanda from the DRC border, MONUSCO can no longer claim “observer” status. That is complicity.
M23 is NOT a Rwandan problem. Its members are congolese and a process of resolving this issue had been started in Nairobi at the request of PoDRC. How was the decision made to break from the process and turn it into the senseless killing it has become today?
Rwanda disarmed M23 who fled to Rwanda in 2013, handed over their weapons to Gov of DRC, a repatriation roadmap was put in place and countless missions from DRC govt have come to “study” the problem. This is in addition to 76,000 congolese refugees. No action has been taken.
Rwanda has no interest in destablizing Eastern DRC. Our request is the same as it has ALWAYS been. That the over 20,000 MONUSCO troops fulfill their 2 decades long mandate and that FDLR be treated as the genocidaires they are and not be handed the impunity to attack our country.
One hates to imagine the UN and MONUSCO dragged by DRC into supporting what now has very clear, dangerous ethnic and hate speech overtones. It is even worse to imagine this could be a provocation for Rwanda to be forced into retaliating, including addressing MONUSCO’s support.
The writer is President Kagame’s Press Secretary.
