Tshisekedi, the warmongering leader of the DRC, is desperately trying to deflect attention from his humiliating string of losses against the March 23 Movement. This political movement that’s exclusively armed from within Congo, is fighting for the protection of native Tutsi Congolese communities. These are victims of repeated ethnic cleansing. The M23 also fights for the return of 75,000 displaced Congolese, and the return of minimum security conditions for all the populations of the East.
Yet, Tshisekedi, without a shred of evidence, slanders M23, accusing them of conspiring with Rwanda, with wild allegations they want “to balkanize the DRC.” Such claims, however, crumble in the face of irrefutable facts, as the M23 has never, in its entire existence, advocated for secession.
Against this backdrop, Tshisekedi’s soldiers are dying like flies on the battlefield every time he orders them to break the truce established by regional peace accords. The Congolese army, backed by the terrorist FDLR – the tropical Nazis – as well as foreign mercenaries (each receiving a staggering $20,000 monthly), and the Wazalendo, Tshisekedi’s own militia reminiscent of the notorious Interahamwe of the Habyarimana regime, find themselves in abject disarray against the relentless advance of the M23. Unlike the Tshisekedi regime, the sole mission of M23 is to safeguard innocent civilians.
Moreover, the Congolese army is plagued by widespread desertions and whole battalions are refusing to engage in combat. This debacle is hardly surprising. The underfunded, ill-trained FARDC soldiers are more akin to a ragtag militias than a legitimate army. The majority of its so-called generals and colonels are more concerned with lining their pockets than with military strategy. This explains why the European Union’s whopping investment of nearly 80 million euros between 2005 and 2018 to revamp the FARDC has been a colossal waste.
Then there’s Tshisekedi, luring young, desperate Congolese to their doom in what can only be described as a slaughterhouse, all for his own political ends. What is worrying is Tshisekedi’s propaganda behind the deployment of these young Congolese, propaganda of pure ethnic hatred against Congolese Tutsi and against Rwanda, aimed at hiding the origin of regional instability: the genocidal FDLR, who found sanctuary in Congo in 1994 after perpetrating the genocide against the Tutsi that claimed over one million innocent lives in a mere 100 days.
M23, meanwhile, has captured scores of POWs, and in self-defense, neutralizes countless FARDC soldiers and their allies. The message is clear: fight without a noble reason, and you’re doomed from the start. Tshisekedi’s forces are suffering massive losses – men, weapons, drones, missiles, vehicles – all falling into M23’s hands. There are even wounded soldiers being executed by their own commanders, to prevent them from being captured and spilling secrets to the enemy. Such is the grim fate of Tshisekedi’s men, sacrificed in a futile war against regional regional peace efforts.
Finally, Tshisekedi, in a desperate attempt to rally extremist support, is peddling the ludicrous lie that M23’s recent triumphs are the handiwork of the Rwandan army. This pathetic falsehood has been utterly disregarded by regional states, who are instead advocating for dialogue through the Nairobi and Luanda Processes, between M23 and Tshisekedi’s failing regime.
ellenkampire