The leaders of the East African Community (EAC) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) have acknowledged that M23 must be brought to negotiating table in order to resolve the ongoing conflict in the Eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
For the past years the DRC which is a member of both EAC and SADC had consistently rejected the idea of holding any talks with the M23 rebels.
During the joint summit in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, the EAC and SADC leaders insisted that there is need for focused and concerted efforts to address the ongoing violence in the region.
They also directed that the talks be conducted under the newly integrated Nairobi-Luanda process, aiming for a sustain- able resolution to the crisis.
The joint summit, hosted by Tanzania was attended by nine Heads of State including DRC’s Felix Tshisekedi.
DRC has been consistently accusing Rwanda of assisting the M23 movement which Kigali has categorically rejected and counter accused Kinshasa of directly facilitating the FDLR terrorist organisation whose members comprise of perpetrators of the 1994 Gencocide against Tutsi which claimed more than a million lives.
“This war was started by DRC and not anything from Rwanda. It was just brought and put on our shoulders and we were told to own it. We can’t own it. There is no question about it,” said President Paul Kagame.
Shortly before the summit President Kagame had cautioned that the meeting needed to be different from previous ones.
“Let us use this meeting in a manner that will put into account all these matters seriously, and find a lasting solution,” Kagame advised.
“We can’t go on forever massaging problems. What is happening there is an ethnic war that has been brewing for a long time, denying people’s rights and then attacking Rwanda,” President Kagame said.
Kagame added, “You must recognize people’s rights and take a step and resolve the issue.”
“DRC cannot just tell us to keep quiet when they are mounting a security problem against our country. Nobody can tell us to shut up.”
“We have been begging DRC and its leaders for a long time, we have shared our issues and asked DRC to address them, and they have refused.”
