Massad Boulos, U.S. Senior Advisor for Africa, recently met in Doha with Dr. Mohammed bin Abdulaziz bin Saleh Al Khulaifi, Qatari Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, to send a clear message: the United States sees through Tshisekedi’s ploy to use the Doha talks with the Congolese military-political movement M23/AFC as cover to rearm and prolong the crisis. This meeting signals that Washington will no longer tolerate Tshisekedi’s strategy of negotiating in bad faith while pursuing military buildups on all fronts.
Boulos’s growing concern is rooted in concrete intelligence: reports of troop and weapons deliveries arriving by plane in Bujumbura, the last regional bastion still openly backing Tshisekedi’s war efforts. This military buildup directly contradicts the spirit of the Doha talks. By confronting this, Boulos aims to force Tshisekedi to abandon the dangerous path of stoking conflict and instead commit to a real political solution, something the regime has so far resisted.
This diplomatic pressure reflects a sober realisation: Tshisekedi’s November 2021 offensive against the positions of the Armée révolutionnaire du Congo (ARC), military branch of M23/AFC, triggered the current crisis. 4 Years since then, Tshisekedi has undermined numerous peace efforts led by Angolan President Joao Lourenço and former Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Fast forward to today, and negotiations have stalled completely. Tshisekedi refuses to accept basic preconditions, like lifting death sentences and bounties on M23/AFC leaders, and releasing thousands of political prisoners, many of them Congolese Tutsis. Boulos’ intervention aims to end this intransigence, without which peace remains impossible.
Washington also recognises that the M23/AFC have become central players whose political demands can’t be ignored. Their forces continue to defend Congolese civilians, and if attacked again, have made clear they will liberate Uvira and push south toward Kalemie.
Ultimately, Tshisekedi’s persistent refusal to compromise traps the country in a self-inflicted war with severe economic consequences.
It has to end!
ellenkampire