Open letter to DRCongo Minister of Foreign Affairs to oppose the deployment of Rwanda Security Services in DRC
NREF: 32/COJESKI/NK/10/2024 October 15, 2024 , the original French version is here attached ” Lettre 32 du 15 Octobre 2024 au Ministre des Affaires Etrangeres de la RDC
To Her Excellency Madame Thérèse Kanyekwamba Wagner
Minister of State, Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation and Francophonie of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kinshasa, DRC,
Copy of information to:
– Mr. the President of the Caucus of National Deputies of North Kivu, DRC,
– His Excellency Mr. Olivier JP Nduhungirehe, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Rwanda,
– His Excellency Ambassador Téte Antonio, Ministers of External Relations of the Republic of Angola,
– President of the Peace and Security Commission of the African Union,
– Representative of MONUSCO in the DRC,
– UNHCR representative in the DRC,
– Civil Society in the DRC in its diversity,
– United Nations Special Rapporteur on Forced Migrants,
– Human Rights Organizations,
Subject: Our opposition to the Deployment of Intelligence Agents and Security Services from Rwanda to North Kivu in the Democratic Republic of Congo: The signatories of the Luanda agreements during the 5th Ministerial on the security and peace situation in Eastern DRC from September 12th, 2024 will be held accountable for all related consequences.
Excellency Madam Deputy Prime Minister of the DRC,
We learned with amazement of this umpteenth provocation of the population by the Congolese Government following the Luanda agreements which authorize the deployment of Rwandan security services on Congolese territory within the framework of the Ad-Hoc Reinforced Verification Mechanism. This deployment not only violates the sovereignty of the DRC but also exposes to risks the Congolese who are fighting against the war imposed on us by Rwanda and also endangers the security of Rwandan refugees on Congolese soil.
A large part of the AFC/M23 fighters are Rwandan refugees who were in the DRC and who were brought to Rwanda then deployed in the DRC after enlisting in the armed group (the AFC/M23), refugees living in Rwanda and in Uganda whose identities even still remain doubtful. How many Rwandan soldiers would be on Congolese soil, how many Rwandan soldiers would be able to camouflage themselves from the Congolese Tutsi fighters and even from the Congolese Hutus, as was the case in the past? Why deploy Rwandan security services in DRC but not the Congolese services in Rwanda to follow the movement of refugees in Rwanda, and why not leave the ad-hoc mechanism only to Angola given that it is the consensus of everyone and would not put the lives of refugees at risk? The neutralization of the FDLR (Rwandan refugees) means what exactly, where they are and how to distinguish them from the Congolese population, and why not also the neutralization of armed refugees in Rwanda and Uganda who have been easily recruited since 1996 until now for destabilize the DRC? How would the neutralization of the FDLR bring peace to the DRC? These are questions that the Authors must first answer to the Congolese population before signing any agreement.
We observe with bitterness this metamorphosis of the same practice of deploying Rwandan security services on Congolese territory for the same pretext for years, and this would not be different from the 2022 initiatives for the deployment of Rwandan police officers in North Kivu and the construction of a modern city in Nyiragongo by Rwanda, to which the population was opposed to the point of sacrificing certain human lives killed during the various demonstrations in Goma. Those who signed these agreements in Luanda on Saturday October 12th, 2024 took the responsibility of massacring the Congolese people who will certainly resist this arrival of security agents from Rwanda on Congolese territory and the innocent blood of the Congolese will be on their hands.
We have the impression that the city of Goma is currently calm with few violent demonstrations, road barricades and traffic restrictions, this would further irritate the signatories of these Luanda agreements, the fact that we do not bury demonstrators killed by the same weapons that should protect them, greatly affects the Congolese, Angolan and Rwandan Governments, so it would justify the creation of agreements that send people into the streets for demonstrations. While the authors of these agreements know very well that the Congolese people are hostile to the deployment of Rwandan troops on Congolese in DRC.
We again remind all parties (DRC, Rwanda and Angola) that the FDLR are Rwandan refugees seeking protection and security from attacks by Rwanda since 1996 until of the present, and the DRC has solutions more effective internal resources to manage these refugees through effective management of each refugee on Congolese territory. We remind states of their obligation to protect refugees, and to encourage Rwanda to categorically reject the criminalization of Rwandan refugees in the DRC, and especially that Rwanda has done the same thing against Rwandan refugees in Uganda, Kenya, Zambia, Malawi, South Africa, Canada among many others but these countries have taken strong measures aimed at the protection of each refugee, which the DRC should also do.
There would be no reason to wage war in the name of the FDLR because they recognize themselves as refugees and seek the protection that this country should grant them. We also recall that the management of refugees in the sub-region should not be done in a very simplistic way like this, because it is since 1980 with the first war of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni that refugees have been recruited for military operations, the Rwandan regime is made up of a large part of refugees, and those who are at war in North Kivu under the label of AFC/M23/RDF are largely refugees in Uganda, Rwanda and Kenya whose measures serious measures have not been taken for their protection.
In view of the above, we demand the following:
That the DRC, Rwanda and Angola urgently and unconditionally abandon the option of deploying Rwandan security services on Congolese soil, and leave the task to the Angolan military who are already deployed in Goma,
May Angola, Rwanda, the African Union and the United Nations help the DRC to put in place good refugee management, especially a new law, a national policy, and a government structure capable of meeting the challenge, especially through physical identification of each refugee, security, the establishment of refugee camps, humanitarian aid to refugees, and durable solutions for each refugee in the DRC,
That the Great Lakes countries work on the establishment of a regional cooperation framework for the management of refugees which will allow the exchange of information on the situation of refugees in each country, as well as mechanisms to develop the space for their protection,
That the Congolese Parliamentarians contact the Government to favor internal solutions to the problem of those called “FDLR” and above all promote the debate at each level (local, provincial and national and regional) on the FDLR for an understanding and a consensual position,
That Civil Society, Political Actors and the Congolese population be mobilized to defeat this project to deploy Rwandan security services in the DRC,
That UNHCR can break its silence on the politicization and militarization of refugees in the DRC in particular and in the sub-region in general, and can urge the DRC and Rwanda to respect the rights of refugees as well as their international obligations towards refugees ,
That the DRC can refrain from any use of force and violence against the FDLR/Rwandan Refugees, and can implement a strategy of dialogue with each party at each level to avoid the loss of human lives,
That MONUSCO be asked to help secure the Rwandan refugee camps in the DRC, especially the sites and camps that could be created for Rwandan refugees, and that UNHCR and Congolese and Rwandan Civil Society can be involved in these discussions on these subjects. which touch us deeply,
That the Authors of these Agreements first initiate activities for the participation of the Population at each level to reach a consensus which could lead to a more inclusive and definitive agreement for peace in the East of the DRC,
That Civil Society in its diversity and, in particular, organizations working in the protection of refugees be invited into discussions and agreements at each level to build lasting peace,
Please Excellency Madam Deputy Prime Minister accept the expression of our patriotic feelings,
Kulihoshi Musikami Pecos
Provincial Coordinator
