In the report tabled to the United Nation Security Council; the United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres confirmed the departure of MONUSCO from the Democratic Republic of Congo. The UN mission leaves the region in no better circumstances than once the mission first deployed 25 years ago.
When MONUSCO was established in 1999, the mission was mandated to bring stability and peace to the region marred by conflicts and violence. With an astonishing $1.6 billion per year as a budget, the mission has resulted in failure.
The 25 years of MONUSCO has been a legacy of supporting the Congolese army (FARDC). The support that resulted in providing logistical and military assistance to rebels that are responsible for atrocities both in DRC and Rwanda. For instance, one is FDLR— a barbaric genocidal force that has been in bed with FARDC for several years now.
As the mission is set to depart the country, it is high time we admit that the UN security approach in the region has failed. Precisely, it is a lesson to Tshisekedi regime and his predecessors that kept renewing their mandate every other year, that they are responsible for the incessant crisis.
Now, Tshisekedi regime has a bitter pill to swallow: There is nobody else who will solve the crisis, but DRC authorities themselves, and if they are willing to solve it, their tasks ahead are herculean.
Firstly, they have to sever the tie with FDLR that has attained the Republican Guard stature as revealed by Corneille Nangaa Yobeluo, the former president of the Congolese National Electoral Commission.
Second, as the FDLR is the regional threat, mostly for Rwanda and DRC, the DRC authorities have to abort the anti- Rwanda sentiment and welcome Rwanda to collaboratively rout out FDLR and a myriad of armed rebel groups that wreak havoc in the eastern DRC.
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