Rwanda-DR Congo tension threatening regional integration’s nascent gains

By BERNA NAMATA , Ange Iliza & Patrick Ilunga

As tensions mount between Kigali and Kinshasa over allegations of official support for rebel groups in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, there are growing concerns that an escalation could undermine recent gains in stability across the Great Lakes region and East Africa.

The current diplomatic and military standoff lends credence to a warning by Xia Huang, Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for the Great Lakes region, who in April told the UN that the March 23 Movement (M23), the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) and other armed groups were committing atrocities against civilians in eastern DRC.

According to Olivier Nduhungirehe, Rwanda’s current ambassador who previously served as the Deputy Permanent Representative at Permanent Mission of Rwanda to the UN when Rwanda was member of the UN Security Council 2013-14, “we kept on asking the Special Representative of the Secretary General why Monusco never attempted to neutralise the FDRL, as per its mandate. The answer was always that Monusco could not locate FDLR’s leaders. However, in June 2014, Monusco sent a helicopter to FDLR Leader Victor Byiringiro to fly him to Kinshasa, from where he would depart to Italy for a Sant’Egidio meeting. As he was under travel ban, Rwanda formally objected to the UNSCA while Byiringiro was already in Kinshasa. This serious incident happened while the UN Group of Experts had, its 2013 final report and 2014 midterm report confirmed the collaboration at the local level between the FDLR and FARDC as well as political alliances between the FDLR and Rwanda’s opposition groups.” (In a tweet posted on 30/05/2022).