As a tentative ceasefire between Congolese government troops and rebel forces calling themselves M23 endures into its fourth week, a viable solution to the crisis caused by the latest rebellion to wreak havoc in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) seems as distant as ever. Regional fact-finding missions and summits have, so far, produced little more than vague gestures and empty words. Meanwhile, the M23 fighters continue to regroup, reorganise and plot their next move.
The latest meeting on the ongoing crisis in eastern DRC was held in Goma, the provincial capital of North Kivu, between 14 and 16 August. Here, the army chiefs and defence ministers of the member states of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) attempted to hammer out the details of a 'neutral' force to be deployed in DRC to combat rebel group M23. This force had been proposed and debated at previous ICGLR meetings in Addis Ababa and Kampala, though the specifics were left unresolved.
Regional tensions
A significant hurdle to finding a regional solution has been the implication of Rwanda in the fomenting of this crisis. Rwanda was accused by the UN Group of Experts on the Congo of supporting M23, which is a re-incarnation of the CNDP (National Congress for the Defence of the People) rebel group that Kigali backed in 2008. Rwanda has subsequently seen aid contributions from many close allies cut or frozen. There have also been rumours of Ugandan links to M23. Both Rwanda and Uganda deny supporting the rebels.
This has meant that conflict, rather than consensus, has been in abundance at these summits. At the Kampala meeting Paul Kagame and Yoweri Museveni - presidents of Rwanda and Uganda respectively - pushed for a force made up of regional armies to fight M23. Congolese President Joseph Kabila, wary of his neighbours' interests in the region, rejected that idea. The Rwandan and Ugandan delegations at Goma repeated their preference for a regional solution, but the Congolese managed to obtain an ICGLR resolution to implement an international force.
At Goma it was announced that this force would comprise some 4,000 soldiers spread across North Kivu to fight 'negative forces', including but not limited to M23. The defence ministers are due to submit a final report to Museveni, who is currently chairing the ICGLR, before 22 August. However many questions were left unanswered in Goma - especially who will pay and who will contribute soldiers - and the conference was buzzing with rumour and speculation.
Conflicting rumours
Baudouin Hamuli, the DRC national co-ordinator of the ICGLR, said that the troops of the international force could integrate into Monusco (the UN stabilisation mission in the Congo): "We would send home 4,000 Monusco soldiers who are in places where they're not needed, and replace them with 4,000 special-trained troops," he said. "Monusco would pay, but because we're replacing departing soldiers their budget will not change."
Another Congolese delegate indicated that the DRC was seeking solutions away from the ICGLR: "We are much closer to SADC [the South Africa Development Community] than these ICGLR countries," he said on condition of anonymity. "SADC countries are ready to send troops which would integrate into Monusco. We also want Monusco's mandate to be more aggressive, so they can fight M23."
However Roger Meece, the head of Monusco, said no agreement had been made to integrate special troops and would not be drawn on potential changes to the peace-keepers' mandate.
Passing the buck
SADC has indeed been monitoring the situation in North Kivu, sending a fact-finding mission to eastern DRC at the beginning of this month, but their report does not suggest sending soldiers to fight M23.
Rather, the authors of the report say they could envisage a 'special force' to be deployed on the Congo/Rwanda border, but that any neutral force would require a mechanism to involve Rwanda and the ICGLR. They too suggest a strengthening of Monusco's civilian-protection mandate.
For now, then, no single organisation or country has made a concrete commitment to help the DRC combat M23. Talk of forces organised by the ICGLR or SADC remains just that: talk. While the buck is passed from one organisation to the next, M23 numbers continue to swell through recruitment and defections from the national army. The Congolese people are understandably frustrated. "We've had two decades of conferences and negotiation," said Thomas, a Goma resident. "We don't need more talking - we just need peace."
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it is not acceptable that M23 Congolese rebellion be branded "a negative force", ladies and gentlemen of the brave new world. nay! anyone saying M23 rebellion is just like any of negative forces the type of which we have seen in d r congo aided by the glaringly irresponsible kabila government, the criminal UNO and the reckless international community (US $ 1 000 000/day in 1994-1996), must have gone berserk. that is sheer lunacy to say the least! they had better go and learn and get rudiments of the political history of d r congo, rwanda, burundi and uganda spanning the last 100 years, but specially since 1950.
the region of the african great lakes is going to turn into a fireball very soo, if the diplomatic ballets going on in respect of the current congo crisis induced by UNO officials and european media peddling rumors, do not shift their minds from playful diplomacy to germane international relations arrangements fitting the erstwhile colonies turned into counterfeit independent nations in the 1960s.
M23 rebellion is a very honorable and dignified political and military force having a crystal clear cause to fight for. if there s any negative force heading all other negative forces in the congo , it is the kabila government, which has turned the congolese people into an unearthly sort of "THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTH". FRANTZ FANON WOULD WRITE A GOOD PIECE IF HE WERE TP RESURRECT FROM THE DEAD TODAY. remnants of the rwandan genocidal forces alongside other nondescript armed groups have been beefing up the kabila armed forces supposed to be the congolese national army, since 1998. let the world's monitors come down ad see for themselves what has been obtaining in d r congo since august 2,1998 to date. let them come and see the congolese banyarwanda who have been living in rwanda squalid concentraton camps falsely referred to a refugee camps for the last 20 years. let the world know why those congolese citizens have been stripped of their rights to a homeland, to a nationality, to property, to happiness et alia. M23 rebellion is the most gallant, honorable and dignified d r congo has ever had since independence, june 30, 1960. calling them a negative force is a serious misnomer and an abrasive error.