The Democratic Republic of Congo: Uneasy lull

“Laissez les envahisseurs entrer en RDC, ils vont se perdre dans nos immenses forêts… Ne leur donnez rien à manger ni à boire. Résistez et résistez encore.”

-Let the invaders enter the DRC, they’ll get lost in our vast forests… Give them nothing to eat or drink. Resist and resist again- Former President Laurent Desire Kabila, 1997.

Kabila would never live long enough to realise this dream for the DRC. Instead, more wars, chaos, massacres and civilian displacements. The M23, UPDF(Uganda People’s Defense Forces), RDF(Rwandan Defense Forces), SANDF(South Africa National Defense Forces), MONUSCO(United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo), Western countries and many more…

M23 soldiers walking in Bukavu. (Photo:AFP)

16th January 2001

The current twist in the never ending Congo Crisis can be traced back to the morning of 16th January 2001 when allegedly, Laurent Kabila’s 18 year old bodyguard Rashidi Mizele entered into the Presidential Palace in Kinshasa, told the guards at the gate that he had a message for the President and when he found the President in his office with a senior governmental official, he shot the President several times at point blank range using a AK-47 rifle. Rashidi was shot dead by the president’s other bodyguard when he was escaping. Laurent Kabila was then airlifted out of the country to be treated but died of his gunshot wounds 10 days later. The government official present at the timewas interestingly spared by Rashidi. With the investigations into Kabila’s death being marred in secrecy and controversy including possibilities of foreign hands in it, a conclusive understanding as to the circumstances of Laurent Kabila’s death has not been forthcoming.

Former President Joseph Kabila. (BBC image)

Given that even his own son, Joseph Kabila chooses to shroud the whole story in mystery even up to date. It indicates that this was and is still above our understanding. I’ll leave it at that.

Laurent Kabila’s came into power with the help of a faction of rebels, Rwanda and Uganda alliance, together the Alliances of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire (AFDL), a ragtag army of child soldiers which marched unopposed on Kinshasa. Highly likely that the foreign parties involved in the overthrow of Mobutu expected to receive their dues after the fall of Mobutu Sese Seko. His short stint as President was characterised by attacks on the media and silencinmg of dissent. Eventually, the people turned on him even likening him to the dictator, Mobutu Sese Seko.

The death of Laurent Kabila was announced nationally after 10 days by Eddy Kapiend, his personal bodyguard(who was later charged with the assasination and sentenced to death). A week later, Joseph Kabila was airlifted by a military plane from the frontline in Eastern Congo (fighting in the Congo never seems to end) and announced as the new President of the DRC as per the ‘verbal’ testimony of the deceased President.

Joseph Kabila and modern Congo

Joseph Kabila entered power in 2001 and ruled as President under “The People’s Party for Reconstruction and Democracy” until 2017 when his term ended. However, he delayed elections for two years citing the fighting in the Eastern part of the country as sufficient reason. Subsequently, elections were held in 2019 and Felix Tshisekedi was elected as the new president of the DRC. Felix is the son of Etienne Tshisekedi who was an opposition leader during Mobutu’s reign. Interestingly, Etienne was appointed the prime minister in the 1990s by a sickly Mobutu as a form of appeasement so he never got to join in the subsequent Laurent Kabila’s government.

Etienne Tshisekedi in 2011.

During the highly controversial Presidential elections in 2018, the results were challenged in the Constitutional Court by opposition figures Fayulu and Ramazani, but the results were upheld on 19th January 2019 and Felix Tshisekedi was declared winner. However, Felix’s party failed to gain a majority in Parliament over Kabila’s coalition so he had to enter into a power sharing agreement. Many critics argued that Kabila somehow was still in government. These critics many of whom were in Felix Tshisekedi’s coalition eventually frustrated Kabila out of any involvement with the current government and he fled the country into exile in early 2025.

In absentia, Joseph Kabila was sentenced to death for treason and war crimes. Of which I believe is rightly deserved. When Kabila was in power,(possibly in fear of being overrun) entered into a clandestine power sharing agreement with Rwanda and Rwandan backed M23 which effectively surrendered the mineral rich Eastern part of the DRC to them. It is important to note that the FARDC soldiers were put in harms way through self destructive military strategies and as a result had to withdraw briefly from the city of Goma.

The fighting

Rwanda’s activities and goals in Eastern Congo are well documented. Since their defeat at the hand of MONUSCO’S Force Intervention Brigade in 2013. M23 has developed into a well trained and equipped force backed by an estimated 2,000 Rwandese troops according to UN report by Jason Stearns. Turkish Bayraktar drones, drone jammers, SHORAD missile systems; all these indicate increased involvement by the Rwanda Defense Forces. During the M23’s January offensive in North Kivu, the combined MONUSCO and SADC peacekeeper casualties incurred really opened up the extent of Rwandan backed M23 military force. 20 peacekeepers were killed in total including 14 South Africans which triggered a diplomatic row between Cyril Ramaphosa’s administration and Paul Kagame.

The Luanda Process was seen as light at the end of the tunnel in regards to the Congo crisis but the August 2024 ceasefire was swiftly broken on 20th October 2024. Subsequently another round of talks were scheduled on 15th December 2024 aimed at discussing the neutralization of the FDLR but there was no attendance of the Kigali Delegation. Both parties exhibited an unwillingness to come forward for further peace talks.

Luanda Process.

The Kinshasa government expressely refused to sit down in talks with M23. Rwanda was instructed to cease all diplomatic and consular activities in the DRC and leave Kinshasa on January 24th 2025. About 4 days later, the M23 declared to have captured the city. A day later on the 28th of January, approximately 1200 Congolese soldiers surrendered to the M23 at Goma International Airport and were sent to the MONUSCO base run by the Uruguyuan Battalion. Even more shocking, about 5000 inmates escaped from Muzenze Prison in Goma in which hundreds of female inmates were raped and burned alive. The events that captured the attention of global media is the surrender of 280 Romanian mercenaries contracted by the the DRC government, to the Rwandese Forces at the Congo-Rwanda border. Felix Tshisekedi would later appoint another one of his Major Generals, Evariste Somo as the new administrator of North Kivu although the capital was moved from Goma further north to Beni.

Since then, there has been little to sporadic fighting in and around North Kivu between the M23 and groups supported by thr FARDC like Wazalendo and FDLR.

A Wazalendo combatant.

PEACE?

On the 15th of November 2025, Representatives from both the DRC government and the M23 (also representing the Alliance Fleure Congo AFC) met in Qatar to sign a framework for peace in the East of the country. This framework, according to the the Special Envoy of the US in Africa, involves 8 protocols which include prisoner exchanges and ceasefire monitoring. However, they mostly require work.

Whilst Kinshasa is demanding the withdrawal of Rwandan troops from Congolose territory, Kigali is demanding for the full disbandment of the FDLR. Other protocols include the gradual return of Internally displaced people to their homes and the reaching of aid to those people which funny enough were not given first priority. There has also been an agreement between both sides to establish an independent committee to implement the peace process, and also to provide recommendations for recompensation within the framework of national reconciliation, which will be in line with the constitution of the republic as stated by Qatar’s Al-Khulaifi.

Other things that will need to be discussed in the following weeks are restoring state authority within all regions in the Congo, implementing economic reforms, reintegration of armed groups (of which there ere numerous) into the government and the elimination of foreign groups are among other protocols that will need to be finalised.

It is apparent that this framework for a peace deal may not hold given what has happened in the past especially after the July 15 Peace Deal arranged by President Donald Trump.

I think it’s imperative that Kigali withdraws all its forces from the Congo. It’s clear that Rwanda is in it for the minerals. The FDLR is no longer a threat let alone a competent fighting force. The same goes for several other Western powers and Congo’s neighbours. These are the entities taking advantage of a very fragile nation, not afforded space to recover since independence. For the people benefitting from Congo’s minerals, frankly, there needs to be war and instability. The Congolese people grappling with the struggle between life and death will not care about the thieves, yes THIEVES, looting this wonderful nation dry. For Instance, Rwanda built a gold refinery in 2013. ‘Coincidentally’, right after the war with M23 started. Since then they have become a major distributor of Gold. The move by the M23 of setting up a parallel government in North Kivu and South Kivu provinces indicate a desire by Rwanda to camp in Eastern Congo indefinitely.

I speak for the millions of Congolese people displaced by war in their own country that the death and suffering needs to end soon. The only way for this to happen is for the actualization of a free Congo. The best solution for the Kinshasa is to form a federal government with the various provinces able to administer themselves but pay taxes and fealty to the National Government. However, it is better said than done with provinces such as Katanga expressing the desire to secede as far back as immediately after independence.

My wish is that the International Community would rally behind the crying call of the Congolese people and help drive the looters away. A country rich in culture, music and diversity deserves much more than to be ravaged by the hyenas. The leopard needs to stand up and protect its cubs. The East African Community has a role to play in realising everlasting peace in the DRC.

There is urgent need to modernise the FARDC inorder to make it capable of confronting any outside force. Soviet era T-72 battle tanks and Su-24 fighter jets repeatedly seem ineffective against the Rwandan-funded M23 Rebels. The FARDC needs to to familiarise with modern warfare and weaponry like drones and advanced rocket defence systems. Additionally, phase out the the AKM and AK-47 type rifles with modern rifles like the Scar L and M4 as standard issue firearms. Better organisation and advanced training for atleast one special brigade to carry out tactical campaigns and maneuvers. I have to appreciate the effort of the FARDC soldiers even amidst gross incompetency exhibited by their leaders and commanders. They showed unexpected resistance against the better equipped and trained Rwandan and Rwandan backed rebel forces.

However, the biggest initiative rests upon the citizens of the DRC. They need to retake control over their future. They need to appoint competent and patriotic leaders among themselves to carry them out of this dark period that has engulfed them for decades. It’s only them that have the true power to say no to their oppressors and shut out any negative influence from outside forces. They need to root out corruption from within their institutions. Only then, will they find light at the end of the tunnel.

“Levons-nous tous et luttons pour la liberte du peuple congolais”