Rwanda has asked the UN Security Council not to give logistical support to the regional Southern African Development Community Mission in the DRC, arguing such a move will only escalate the conflict in the Eastern DRC.
Through a letter by Rwanda Foreign Affairs Minister Vincent Biruta to UNSC President Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett and copied to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, Kigali said providing support to the Congolese-led coalition will only escalate the conflict and instead asked it to pursue a peaceful solution through the Nairobi and Luanda processes.
“The intended UN logistical and operational support to the FARDC allied forces emboldens the Government of DRC in pursuing a military solution in place of a negotiated and peaceful solution of the crisis,” Minister Biruta said in the letter dated February 12, 2024.
The letter came a week after Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean- Pierre Lacriox visited Goma, Beni and Bukavu regions and met SAMIDRC Force Commander General Dyakopu Monwabisi. He said the UN was considering providing logistical and operational support to SAMIDRC according to the Security Council Resolution 2717 (2023).
During his field visit, Lacroix also met with provincial authorities, civil society representatives and MONUSCO personnel.
The Under-Secretary-General discussed security challenges and called on the M23 to immediately cease its offensive in eastern DRC and to respect the Luanda Roadmap, even as he reiterated MONUSCO’s commitment to implementing its protection of civilian mandate.
“In Resolution 2717, the Security Council mandated MONUSCO to examine ways in which it could provide limited logistical and operational support to the SADC force (SAMIDRC). The Mission is currently exploring options for providing this support. Proposals will be made to the Security Council, which will decide on the nature of this support and its modalities”, Lacroix said.
In Kinshasa, he had an audience with President Félix Antoine Tshisekedi and called for a rapid reinforcement of the presence and capacity of the Congolese defense and security forces in Ituri, North Kivu, South Kivu, the three provinces that MONUSCO is due to leave as part of its disengagement from the country.
The Security Council mandated MONUSCO to examine avenues to provide limited logistical and operational support to SAMIDRC.
The regional force with troops from South Africa and Tanzania has already started launching attacks on rebel groups, chief among them M23, which Rwanda is accused of backing. During the meeting, Lacriox urged joint coordination to support Congolese forces, FARDC, in war on armed groups in eastern DRC.
But Rwanda in the letter argues the move poses several dangers including “erosion of any peaceful settlement of the decades-long crisis in the eastern DRC, resurgence of ethnic confrontation and risk of a regional conflict given the determination of the presidents of DRC and Burundi to cause a regime change in Rwanda.”
It said it has hosted up to 100,000 refugees for over 30 years, some who have fled ethnic cleansing in the eastern DRC.
“The Government of Rwanda would like to request the UNSC to avert the escalation of the conflict in eastern DRC, by not reconsidering the request to provide logistical and operational support to the FARDC-led coalition, which could only feed into more escalation,” Biruta said.
He added that Rwanda is available to play its role in supporting peaceful resolution to the conflict but would continue to deploy preventive and defensive measures against the alleged threats of “DRC and Burundi presidents to remove the Government of Rwanda and the threat posed by the Rwandan genocidal forces operating in eastern DRC”.
