The UN Security Council has once again chosen the easy path of shouting slogans instead of confronting realities.
Each session echoes the same hollow demand: “Rwanda must withdraw troops from the DRC”. Yet, the Council has never paused to ask the more pressing question: why would Rwanda ever need to be in the DRC in the first place? Unless that “why” is addressed, the cycle of conflict will continue, no matter how many times they repeat Tshisekedi’s propaganda lines.
Rwanda has been unequivocal: it has defensive security measures positioned to counter an undeniable threat, the genocidal militia FDLR, born from the perpetrators of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi. Rwanda’s position has been consistent and principled: as long as that threat exists, its defence posture will remain. Pretending otherwise is wilful blindness.
The UN Security Council is complicit. It holds in its own reports damning evidence of Tshisekedi’s alliances with the very actors destabilising the region. On April 8, 2024, 48 armed-group leaders from South Kivu, North Kivu, and Ituri travelled to Kinshasa at the Presidency’s request. At that meeting, it was clarified beyond doubt that the sanctioned terrorist group FDLR-FOCA were Tshisekedi’s allies, and that the Kinshasa regime continued to employ Wazalendo groups and the FDLR as proxies.
That document exists in New York. Yet, silence prevails.
Instead of accountability, the Council opts for scapegoating Rwanda, demanding “withdrawal”. Meanwhile, they offer no solutions, no pressure, and no sanctions on Tshisekedi’s regime for partnering with genocidaires. It is a tragic hypocrisy. The same Council that has the moral and legal mandate to ensure international peace and security tolerates open collaboration between a UN member state and sanctioned terrorist organisations.
If the UN Security Council is truly committed to peace in the Great Lakes region, it must stop amplifying Tshisekedi’s propaganda and start confronting the uncomfortable truth: Rwanda’s defensive measures are a response, not a cause. The real cause is the Tshisekedi regime’s partnership with the FDLR. The solution starts there.
ellenkampire