With an already controversially secured second term by Incumbent President of DRC Felix Tshisekedi and his strongly growing love for the Rwandan terrorist group the FDLR, concerns are rising.
Speaking to his supporters on a final campaign stop in Kinshasa, Tshisekedi threatened that “If you re-elect me and Rwanda persists … I will request parliament and Congress to authorise a declaration of war. We will march on Kigali.”
Tuesday’s comments escalated the situation to new heights as the president Tshisekedi floated the possibility of all-out combat with Rwanda if re-elected, raising fears of a conflict that could destabilise East Africa.
Richard Moncrieff of the Brussels-based International Crisis Group said, “Whether it’s Tshisekedi or another candidate who wins, the rhetoric around the elections is going to cause problems when it comes to regional diplomacy because they’ve taken the anti-Rwanda rhetoric too far.”
Jean Don Mafisango on platform X says, “Tshisekedi’s political maneuvering with FDLR adds complexity to regional dynamics with potential repercussion for peace and stability. The alliance between Tshisekedi and FDLR may have consequences for regional security especially if there support in attacking Rwanda.”
For Michaela Agasaro is concerned that, “If this were Rwanda, you’d have seen Western media pundits, journalists, and so-called political figures making noise here in the streets of X. Since DRC is a playground that serves their interests, they continue to apply double standards and pamper their puppet Tshisekedi..”
Kayinamura Joseph,notes that DRCongo’s decline is not a mystery; it’s a result of President Tshisekedi’s inability to lead. The state’s dysfunction is pushing it closer to collapse.When incompetence meets leadership,you get the Congo under President Tshisekedi. It’s a story of state unraveling and failure.
Tensions between Kigali and Kinshasa have escalated since the M23’s resurgence in 2021, 10 years after its fighters had gone underground.
Kinshasa insists that the M23 rebels who control swaths of territory in North Kivu, are being sponsored by Kigali. Kigali denies.
“There is a need to address this problem of Kinyarwanda speaking Congolese including the so called M23. That is the problem of the DRC to solve, not mine,” President Paul Kagame f Rwanda said last year.
President Paul Kagame of Rwanda considers Kinshasa government’s problem as bad governance.
However the Kinshasa regime has been growing closer to the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a brutal armed group that has carried out raids in Rwanda in the past. The group is active in the DRC and has also attacked civilians there.
Kagame warned that a “red line was crossed” in the Congo crisis, when Kinshasa enabled anti-Rwanda forces based in the Democratic Republic of Congo to shell the country and kill innocent citizens.
“The FDLR shelled Rwandan territory with BM-21s (self-propelled multiple rocket launchers), which they could only get from the (DRC) government,” Kagame said.
“We respect DRC’s territorial integrity, but we have our territorial integrity too to protect. We need no invitation to do that,” he said, suggesting further such attacks could bring a direct military response from Kigali.
President Kagame sees FDLR and FARDC as one army in all but name.
“The Congo government not only arms the FDLR, they work closely together, although sometimes FDLR operates independently”, he said.
