Rwanda - DRC Addis Ababa Agreement

(LONDON) - We welcome the agreement between the Rwanda - DRC governments in their quest for an equitable resolution to the DRC crisis. We believe that the teaming up of the two countries together for the common purpose; would help to put together a permanent resolution within their reach. We believe these initiatives should have started long ago, instead of trading insults and accusations.

There is overwhelming credible evidence that the DRC government is continuing to support the FDLR and Interahamwe in order to invade Rwanda and orchestrate another era of Tutsi genocide and force Rwandan children back in the misery and shallows of Nakivale, Nshugerezi, Gahunde etc.

This is a dangerous parameter. The DRC government is sailing towards destabilising Rwanda and the entire Great Lakes Region of Nations. We hope the Addis Ababa Agreement will bring this episode to an end.

The DRC has opted to blackmailing Rwanda in the eyes of the international community that it supports M23 rebel group. So, one wonders why Rwanda should be paying the price for its neighbours’ failures to clean up backlogs piled in their backyards.

As party, we believe that accusing our country for the DRC political failures is not helping to end the ongoing political turmoil that has engulfed this country since its independence. What the DRC government is trying to offer to its people, is just a mere paracetamol to ease their pain rather than curing it. Indeed, the DRC government is guaranteeing a misery to its own people, by stripping off its responsibility and accountability, and then transfer them to the shoulders of another country.

The DRC was all along aware that these allegations against Rwanda are just mere fairytales that were invented by men who are motivated by corruption and desperate women who are thirsty, hungry and yawning for attention and promotions. Despite Rwanda’s innocence, some of the DRC ministers have continued to institute an atmosphere of horror and of fears on Rwandan children, similarly to that, which were piled on them before and during the times of the 1994 infamous Rwanda genocide.

We believe the problems in the DRC are entirely Congolese. We are confident these problems can be resolved peaceful if the people of the DRC can put forward matters of their national interest first. What is needed here is a clear cut will and courage to sort out their political differences as one nation and people.

They can seek for the help of outsiders but the responsibility should be firmly placed on their shoulders. The DRC must have the will to accept the challenges rather than running away from them. The DRC government and politicians need to know that Rwanda, as a nation, cannot play the role of a police man in the DRC or in any other sovereign state. The DRC is no different from this perspective.

Therefore, the actions of Congolese politicians, that blame Rwanda for not doing enough to maintain law and order in the DRC, is not “honourable” but irresponsible and reckless. Their conduct and rhetoric of hate, genocide and vandalising of the Rwandan people, the policy of supporting the FDLR, a rebel group that is responsible for the death of one million Rwandan people. Their stance to arm a group that is raping and killing the Congolese community and the outrageous support of a group that is planning to “invade Rwanda and to exterminate all Tutsi” community is not “honourable”.

This dangerous development is bringing back to our people reflections of grim memories, horrors and tears of the 1959, 1961, 1963, 1983, 1990, and that of 1994 genocide that left one million Rwandan dead and forced others to seek refuge in other countries. We condemn these barbaric and reckless behaviours in any strongest term.

The history repeats itself and experience is the best teacher. Rwanda cannot afford to repeat the mistake of the 8th February 1993. We believe that the 1994 genocide would have been avoided if the RPF wasn’t blackmailed by the international community to return to unproductive Arusha Peace Talks with the Habyarimana’s genocidal regime. On 8th February 1993, the RPF/A captured strategic areas and hills overlooking Kigali city such as Tale, Tumba, Mugambazi, Mbogo, Base etc. but instead they fell short of overthrowing Habyarimana’s regime because they were committed to a peaceful resolution to the Rwandan crisis.

The impact of the 8th February 1993’s gigantic mistake of not overthrowing the Habyarimana’s regime at that time, led to the brutal killings of 1,000,000 Rwandans by Habyarimana’s regime and forced hundreds of thousands to seek a refuge in the DRC and other countries. Surprisingly, those so called "western experts" and statesmen who encouraged and induced the RPF not to overthrow Habyarimana’s tyranny regime, they all, one-by-one, melted in undercover. They comfortably kept quiet and chilled out on bottles of wine in their executive mansions in Europe and North America while the FAR and Interahamwe were turning Rwanda into a killing field.

My party, the RPP doesn’t believe that the Rwandan children by then really needed the endorsement of the doomed Arusha Agreement for them to return to their home country. Does that make any sense?

Despite the good will from the RPF in the interest of peace, Habayrimana’s regime used these negotiations as an underground cover to prepare for genocide of 1 million innocent and defenceless Tutsi.

Today, the same tactics are being deployed by the DRC; by tricking Rwanda into endless working consultations, while on the other hand, the DRC government and FDLR are using these consultations as a window of opportunity to orchestrate the second episode of genocide in Rwanda. No decent and honourable human being would want this to happen again on his watch.

We believe that given Rwanda’s past experience, the people of Rwanda are not prepared to stop genocide once again. Instead, Rwanda as nation and people, are in a strong position and uncompromising mood to prevent the reoccurrence of genocide of any magnitude in Rwanda.

We believe that Rwanda has no ill intentions against the government and the people of the DRC. Rwanda wants peace and tranquillity in the region. However, we also believe that peace at the expenses of Rwandan people is not peace. We believe that the DRC government has an obligation to shoulder its responsibility, to control and maintain its security.

My party believes Rwanda does not want war with the DRC or any other country in the world. Because Rwanda understands well the impact and consequences of war on a country and people. This is why Rwanda is a part of the International Peace Keeping Mission. This is a policy fully supported by my party, the Rwanda Peoples Party.

The security and welfare of our children, is paramount. It will remain Rwanda’s primary priority for millions of years to come. There can never be an excuse or apology for the defence of our nation and people. We do not need to seek any one’s lesson to this endeavour nor someone’s permission for the Rwandan children to have a place below or beneath the sun. This is none negotiable.

They are in Rwanda to stay. Rwanda is their country. They are not going anywhere. Never in our lifetime that Rwandan children ever be tested once again to misery and shallows of 35 years that they endured in Uganda and other countries. My party, the RPP primary concern, is to do everything possible at its disposal to ensure speedy repatriation and resettlement of all Rwandan refugees.

Therefore, we believe that it is in the best interest of the DRC to try to clean up its backyard rather than transferring that responsibility to the shoulders of Rwanda and Rwandan people who have totally and absolutely nothing to do with the DRC internal affairs. At the sometime, and as gesture of a good neighbour, my party, appeals to Rwanda and DRC governments to continue to engage each other until all avenues for a peaceful resolution are hammered.

Political stability in the DRC is also good for Rwanda and the Great Lakes Region of Nations. The people of the DRC are our neighbours and they will remain so for millions of years to come. Today, the DRC government and Congolese people are at a crossroads. We cannot simply abandon them there. This is why my party, will continue its appeal to all regional stakeholders including the DRC government to work tirelessly and leave no stone unturned until all peaceful avenues to the DRC crisis are exhausted.

My party, the RPP, strongly supports the Rwanda government position in handling of the DRC crisis. We pledge the RPP’s continued unreserved support to Rwanda in its endeavour, to work with the DRC government throughout this critical moment at which its nation and people are going through. We also pledge our support for the unhindered territorial integrity of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

While, we welcome the Rwanda - DRC and African Union call for the establishment of elements of neutral forces to neutralise all regional negative forces, but as party we don’t see this as a viable long-term solution to the regional problems.

We believe that a peaceful political negotiated settlement is the only guarantee that can lay a solid foundation for a permanent and long-term political stability in the DRC. This is why as a party, we encourage the DRC government and M23 to lay down their arms; and take a different route of a round table dialogue.

We appeal to the DRC government to stop arming the FDLR, dismantle its camps and expel them from the DRC soil. My party believes that it is the responsibility of the Rwanda government to accommodate the FDLR once they are brought home.

We are concerned that the MONUSCO’s involvement in DRC civil war may complicate the situation on the ground, thus fading away all possible opportunities for a peaceful resolution.

We appeal to the DRC government and politicians to refrain from continuing to encourage hate, fear, and terror and the genocide campaign against Rwandan children. These behaviours are cruel, appalling and unacceptable. We are not prepared to swallow them.

Thank you,

John V Karuranga, President
Rwanda People's Party
www.rwandapeopleparty.org
Facebook: Rwanda Peoples Party