12 Aug 2024

Efforts to bring peace to the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are important for the African continent, and require the commitment of all belligerents to work towards the cessation of conflict.

These were the sentiments expressed by His Excellency President Dr Mokgweetsi Eric Keabetswe Masisi in an interview after he attended the inauguration ceremony of Rwanda President, Mr Paul Kagame in Kigali, Rwanda on Sunday.

During his inaugural address shortly after being sworn in for a five-year term as the President of Rwanda at the Amahoro National Stadium in Kigali, President Kagame called for peace in the East and Central African Great Lakes region, the eastern DRC in particular.

Dr Masisi agreed that it was important for the conflict to end through dialogue.

“It is extremely important, it was a very apt statement that President Kagame made, because there is a need of peace, for the meeting of the minds, particularly in Eastern DRC. We often talk about it, and I am very glad he talked about it, and in a way expressing a willingness to sit around the table and compromise, and that is my take home,” President Masisi said.

In his inauguration address, President Kagame said the conflict in eastern DRC had created uncertainty and distrust in the region and needed to be addressed.  “Peace in our region is a priority for Rwanda, yet it has been lacking particularly in eastern DRC. But peace cannot happen on its own, we all have to do our part, the right things in order to achieve and sustain peace.

It should be understood as a necessity to respect people’s rights. We need to reflect on the world we want our children to live in,” Mr Kagame said.

In the aftermath of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, the Interhamwe, militia group that had largely perpetrated the genocide against minority Tutsi and moderate Hutu in Rwanda, retreated to the neighbouring eastern DRC after President Kagame’s Rwandan Patriotic Front seized power ending the genocide.

The broader conflict drew DRC internal rebel groups, and neighbouring countries on either side of conflict, with various sides accusing each other of war excess. Former Botswana President, the late Sir Ketumile Masire chaired the Inter-Congolese Dialogue that eventually led to the cessation of hostilities in 2003.

But over the past 20 years, various conflicts have continued to resurface in the eastern DRC Kivu region, breeding instability that led to newer battles, including internal ethnic clashes between the Mai Mai militia and Banyamulenge peoples as well as conflict between Islamic State aligned insurgents and M23 rebels close to the borders with Rwanda and Uganda.

The latest resurfacing of the conflict has seen the United Nations placing thousands of troops in one of the world’s largest peacekeeping effort, augmented by the Southern African Development Community  Mission in the DRC. ENDS