While EAC-SADC peace initiatives attempt to de-escalate the DRC crisis, Tshisekedi continues his militarist approach. Now he is desperately attempting to bribe Chad’s junta leader, Gen. Mahamat Idriss Déby, into dispatching Chadian troops to do the dirty work his own ragtag coalition forces have failed at: wiping out DR Congo Tutsi population.
Never mind that Chad’s own regular army is barely holding the line against the Front for Change and Concord in Chad (FACT), a rebel force giving Déby a bloody nose at home.
Desperate Tshilombo is now openly outsourcing his war against his own citizens: DR Congo’s Tutsi, herder pastoralist communities who defend themselves under banner of the M23/AFC politico-military movement.
The latter’s demands are crystal clear: the return of refugees to their homeland, under guarantees of security, and the dismantling of FDLR – the genocidal force that has been helping Tshisekedi in his campaign of genocide against them.
So far, Tshilombo has been failing spectacularly, his bands of armed criminals (so-called Congo National army plus FDLR, plus South African, Burundian, Wazalendo thugs and European mercenaries) all suffering one defeat after another at the hands of M23z
So now Tshilombo is losing his mind. While African leaders explore diplomatic solutions, he is sinking further into his delusions of defeating M23 militarily (and of course in his coconut he thinks doing that will enable him attack Rwanda).
Back to the Chadians, we’ll, only someone like Tshisekedi would believe that deploying those desert fighters—men trained for the arid sands, not the dense jungles of Kivu—would somehow miraculously turn the tide in his favour. But to paraphrase what a wise man once said, never stand in the way of someone determined to dig his own grave.
ellenkampire