The U.S.-brokered peace deal between the DRC and Rwanda demands Kinshasa neutralize and repatriate FDLR fighters within 90 days. But the Tshisekedi regime is showing once again it has no real intention to comply. In fact, its latest move is nothing but a mockery of the whole process.
Last Sunday, the Kinshasa regime appointed Joseph Ndayambaje Sukisa as “Provincial Coordinator of the National Disarmament, Demobilization, Community Reintegration, and Stabilization Program” (P-DDRCS) in North Kivu. This is not just any man.
This Ndayambaje has long-standing ties to the FDLR, the very group that Kinshasa is supposed to dismantle.
In May last year this man represented the Kinshasa regime at an FDLR military passout ceremony in Ruhinzi, Masisi Territory. That’s right; the man stood proudly with the same genocidal force whose demobilization he is now tasked with overseeing.
To Tshisekedi everything is some kind of game, to never give peace a chance.
This appointment is a deliberate act by the Tshisekedi’s criminal regime to undermine the peace process, rather than neutralize the FDLR. Kinshasa has chosen to institutionalize its collaboration with them. This is the equivalent of asking a wolf to guard the sheep.
Let’s be clear: Joseph Ndayambaje has been closely linked to the FDLR for decades. Even during his leadership in Walikale, his associations were well known an open secret in Congolese political circles, by appointing him to a key disarmament role, Kinshasa is signaling that it has no intention of severing ties with the FDLR.
Tshisekedi’s regime has responded to pressure by asking Rwanda to provide a list of FDLR members to be neutralized, but this is just another stalling tactic. The regime is playing the peace deal for fools demanding external help while installing insiders like Ndayambaje to maintain the status quo.
How can armed groups be convinced to lay down their weapons when the face of demobilization is a man with rebel ties?.
The truth is that Kinshasa has never really broken ties with the FDLR; elements of the group are embedded in the FARDC , Some of Tshisekedi’s own presidential guards include FDLR fighters. Beyond security, the FDLR is also involved in illicit mining operations, a lucrative enterprise that benefits powerful figures within Tshisekedi’s regime.
So, as the world watches and hopes for progress in the Great Lakes region, Kinshasa continues to double down on duplicity. Peace requires political will, and right now, that’s exactly what the DRC regime lacks.
ellenkampire