THE GREAT LAKES REGION CONFLICT: A THEOREM OF THE CONGO WAR

The Democratic Republic of Congo, has been engaged in a silent protracted war with no end in sight. A war that has occasionally resurfaced, and the people of Congo had endured the misery of this war for far too, for it to continue ignored. A lasting peace is needed. This is a crisis rooted in the colonial project, seeded in the decisions of the Berlin Conference that curved Africa boundaries, guided by the imperial objective, to secure and exploit Africa resources in the desire of colonialists occupier countries of that time, who still today harbour keen interest in clandestinely accessing the natural riches of Africa, as evidenced by this ever-ending DRC war. The DRC has experienced two atrocious wars in its life, the First Congo War, and Second Congo War that ended in 2003. War destabilizes a country and creates a vacuum for competing superpowers scrambling for resources to interfere through war of proxies, in its modernity form, and exploit natural resources out of the victim country at lower cost, hence the benefitting regional players as well as some powerful global States are not interested in the stabilisation of DRC. Consequential to that, the Eastern part of DRC, rich in natural resources has indirectedly been declared a no man's land, a war-zone, outside of the Kinshasa government control,  ruled through proxies. On one side, there is proxies of the government in Kinshasa backed by its allies, thus currently include South Africa in its individual standing, and on the other hand, there is proxies of some neighbouring countries in connivance with other global powers, with huge interest in Congo minerals. The invisible foreign main actors in the conflict has, however, mastered the art of proxy wars, and presented on global stage, the DRC conflict as an ethnic war of the so-called rebels by rebels without risking their international reputation as demanded by Chapter 1, Article 2, of the United Nations Charter, that explicitly states the need for respect of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of individual States. 

After Goma clashes on 23th January to 30th January 2025 between M23 and DRC forces, the Kinshasa government made utterances accusing Rwanda of the involvement of its Rwandese army in war skirmishes in its resource-rich eastern city, backing the M23 rebels in a gun battle to gain control of the city, that resulted in civilian casualties and the death of South African and Malawian soldiers, deployed by Southern Africa Development Community(SADC), under Southern Africa Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo(SAMIDRC), for peacekeeping purposes. That has sparked a global condemnation of Rwanda, that was followed by a demand for the withdrawal of Rwandese forces from Congolese territory. Though most dispute it, Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda in an interview refuted the claims, and openly denied knowledge of the presence of the Rwandese soldiers on DRC soil, and as usually, attributed the refusal of Kinshasa government to accept and treat Tutsis, living predominantly in their historical ancestral lands of the Eastern Congo region as the cause from beginning, to the creation of the March 23 Movement(M23) group that has of time confronted militarily the Kinshasa government to assert, and find acceptance of their existence as Tutsis of Eastern Congo, leading to a general assumption of the crisis as a tribal conflict. This is so because, Kinshasa government on one hand, absolutely dismisses any assertion establishing as a fact any claim that the Tutsis of Goma are Congolese, but, actually Rwandese refugees and descendants of refugees that migrated into its territory during the 1994 Rwanda Genocide, and Congolese conflicts from the era of Mobutu Sese Seko coup by Laurent Desire Kabila, to his overthrow, Kabila himself leading to his succession by Rwanda-aligned son Joseph Kabila, who relatively maintained partial stability during his presidency. These conflicts, Congo claims were all orchestrated by the migrants' countries of origin. Now, due to the discovery and Tutsis' migrates knowledge of the resource deposits in the hosting regions of Congo, and the support to militarily challenge their removal by their homeland countries, illicitly benefiting from the illegal extraction of the Congolese resources, the Tutsis, as Kinshasa government claim, has resorted to claiming Eastern Congo as their  historical homeland, and by virtue of that disputed historical fact, the same Tutsis then deem that, the Kinshasa government is obligated to accept them as Congolese people. It remains to be seen if that happens, whether peace will prevail in the troubled Congo.

The contested Eastern Region of DRC, within a country of over 120 million people, where violence abruptly erupt is situated on the borderlines with Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi. The Tutsi-led Rwanda, a tiny country of less than 15 million population, is pointed as the most problematic figure in the destabilisation of Eastern Congo. The Eastern Congo is rich in minerals reserves, that include cobalt, copper, diamond, gold and coltan currently on a global demand. But, as we mentioned the region is a no man's land, heavily infested by numerous rebel formations conducting artisanal mining on large scale to the benefit of their handlers. Time to time, the rebels combatly, exchange control of the region with Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo(FARDC). The most prominent rebels groups in Eastern Congo is the M23 considered a Rwandese militia because of its connections to Rwandan Army. There is Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda(FDLR), accused by Rwanda of having ties to the FARDC, but also operating in the Goma. Its existence in Congo concerns Rwanda. In North Kivu there is Alliance of Patriots for Free and Sovereign Congo(APCLS), that completely fought in its idea, against the Tutsi dominance. Close to the border with Uganda there is Allied Democratic Forces. Though it has been declared a terrorist organisation by Uganda, there is however possibilities of connivance when it serves Ugandan interests in Congo. In South Kivu, there is National Coalition of the People for the Sovereign of Congo, that has been vowing to fight Joseph Kabila and his successor Felix Tshisekedi, the current President of DRC. This group boost of a number of break-away rebel groups affiliated to its name. On the Burundian Frontier, there is Popular Forces of Burundi, though the group has its foundations in its attempt to overthrow the government of Nkurunziza in 2015, the then president of Burundi. It is majority Tutsis operating South Kivu of Congo. These are just few, but they are many more to add to the number, all led by warlords whose interests is driven by money, who have no regard for the peace of the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Welfare of its citizens. In such a complex and convoluted situation, the last question many would ask is how these rebel groups has managed to sustain their operations, including the acquiring of military equipment. The most undisputed fact is that all these rebel groups have access to high-end natural resources in Eastern Congo, that have been proven to be smuggled through neighbour-nation-corridors of DRC, primarily Rwanda, and finds their way into global markets.

The Democratic Republic of Congo is a member of the Southern Africa Development Community and also part of the East Africa Community(EAC). After Goma clashes that resulted in death of SAMIDRC members and withdrawal of United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo(MONUSCO) forces, the SADC held an Extraordinary Summit on 31 of January 2025 in Harare Zimbabwe chaired by H.E. President  Dr. Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa to deliberate on the security situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The summit was attended by nearly all heads of member States. In that meeting the SADC noted the attacks by the M23 armed group and Rwanda Defence Forces(RDF) on the Government Forces of DRC, SAMIDRC, and the civilian population in various areas of North Kivu. Despite condemning the attacks, and call for a ceasefire, the SADC Summit re-asserted its continued support for the peacekeeping mission and defence of DRC territorial integrity. The summit further reiterated its support for the diplomatic efforts to secure a peaceful resolution to the conflict. In that line the SADC Summit  called for an immediate joint Summit of SADC and EAC, to deliberate on the way forward regarding the security situation in the DRC as proposed by 24th Extraordinary Summit of Heads of the EAC held on 29th January 2025. Important to that, is the Summit's mandating the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation to engage all state and non-state parties to the conflict on a ceasefire process to protect lives and facilitates a smooth flow of humanitarian support to people and communities affected by the armed conflict, and also urged Political and Diplomatic leaders who are parties to the conflict to engage in a coordinated effort of dialogue, including supporting the Luanda Process, MONUSCO, and others, to restore peace and security in Eastern Congo. SADC Summit later reaffirmed its solidarity and unwavering commitment to continue supporting the DRC in its pursuit of safeguarding its independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity as well as sustainable peace, security and development.

The DRC conflict is complex, with too many players involved, including State entities. The inclusive, beyond SADC borders, less aggressive decisions reached by the SADC Summit is the most welcome decisions for the purposes of restoring peace and stability in the the Great Lakes Region.