The recent peace deal between Rwanda and DR Congo brokered by Washington gives Kinshasa a 90-day deadline to neutralize the genocidal FDLR.
Predictably, some of Tshisekedi’s ministers who have long benefited from the FDLR’s criminal networks are moving quickly to muddy the waters. They are distorting the truth about the very existence of FDLR.
Among the most vocal is Julien Paluku, the current Congolese Minister of Trade and former governor of North Kivu. Paluku has taken to social media to dismiss the very existence of the FDLR, claiming that UN expert reports show only “about a thousand” fighters remain, who he insists are simply “FDLR recycled by the Kigali regime.”
But suppose the FDLR is just a fiction. Why has Paluku’s own regime signed three formal commitments in recent months on October 31 and November 25, 2024, in Luanda, and on June 27, 2025, in Washington to neutralize the group? How does one neutralize something that does not exist?
It is both laughable and tragic to watch Paluku attempt to rewrite history. While he governed North Kivu, the FDLR thrived. He was among those who personally profited from the lawlessness and violence the group sowed in eastern Congo.
There is evidence of Paluku participating in meetings with FDLR representatives, arranging deals that fueled their survival.
Paluku’s record speaks for itself. He has been a commissioner of both the FDLR and Mai Mai networks, enriching himself through the illegal exploitation of minerals. It is no surprise that he is now one of the first to undermine the Washington agreement his wealth and power have always depended on keeping eastern Congo unstable.
Many businessmen from the Far North, in territories of Katembo in Butembo, bought minerals looted by the FDLR. Women in Lubero married to FARDC soldiers traded hemp with FDLR fighters. And when Paluku was mayor of Butembo, he personally brokered mineral deals with the FDLR. He organized meetings with their commanders in Bwito and maintained close working relationships with them for years.
The FDLR is not merely a militia; it is an entrenched ideology of Tutsiphobia that has taken root in parts of the DRC and Burundi. No peace deal will succeed as long as this hatred is tolerated or quietly encouraged by those in power.
As long as high-ranking Congolese officials continue to profit from the presence of the FDLR, genuine neutralization will remain a distant goal. The people of eastern Congo deserve better than this toxic cycle of denial, complicity, and opportunism.
For the first time in decades, there is a chance to bring peace but only if the DRC’s leaders finally choose the side of their own citizens over their personal gain.
ellenkampire