President Macron backs ‘negotiated solution’ to DR Congo-Rwanda tensions

PARIS, France

French President Emmanuel Macron has said he supports a political resolution of the tensions between Rwanda and DR Congo, the Elysee Palace said in a statement.

On Wednesday, March 20, Macron had a telephone conversation with Angolan President Joao Lourenço, who is the mediator between the two countries under the African Union-backed Luanda process.

The Luanda process, named after the Angolan capital, is an initiative of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) which was introduced in mid-2022 to settle the diplomatic tensions that arose from the conflict between the Congolese government and the M23 rebels in North Kivu province in eastern DR Congo.

Macron “welcomed the Angolan President's commitment to the situation in Eastern Congo, particularly his recent diplomatic initiatives, and reiterated his full support for these regional mediation processes to find a negotiated solution to the conflict,” the Elysee Palace said in a statement on Wednesday.

Following months of belligerent rhetoric by Congolese leaders and multiple calls to return to negotiations, the Luanda process was revived by regional leaders at a meeting in the Ethiopian capital on February 16.

As a follow-up on the Addis Ababa meeting, on February 27, Lourenço hosted Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi, who reportedly agreed to a meeting with his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame.

Lourenço also received President Kagame on March 11. According to Village Urugwiro, the two leaders agreed on steps towards addressing the root causes of the eastern DR Congo conflict and the need to uphold the Luanda process and its sister initiative, the Nairobi process, both of which seek to find a lasting solution to decades-old violence in eastern DR Congo.

Rwanda accuses the Congolese armed forces (FARDC) of integrating the FDLR, a UN-sanctioned militia linked to the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.

The FDLR is part of the government-led coalition that includes Burundian forces, troops from the Southern African Development Community (SADC), fighting M23 rebels.

The terrorist group poses a threat to Rwanda and is accused of spreading hate and violence against Congolese Tutsi communities.

Apart from the FDLR, root causes of the violence in eastern DR Congo include decades-long persecution and alienation of Kinyarwanda-speaking communities in the region.

The FDLR has whipped up violence and hate speech against the Congolese communities, resulting in the exile of hundreds of thousands of Congolese people. Rwanda alone hosts up to 100,000 of Congolese refugees, some of whom have lived in camps for nearly 30 years.

The FDLR was founded in May 2000 with the help of the Congolese political and military leaders – a fact admitted by one of its founders and former vice president, Straton Musoni, who now lives in Rwanda.

In an interesting twist of events, and following mounting pressure, the Congolese army in November 2023 ordered that all its soldiers end any contact with the FDLR. However, the FDLR remained integrated into the Congolese armed forces, according to the Rwandan government.

The FDLR not only threatens DR Congo’s security but has also launched attacks on Rwanda for more than two decades. A 2019 attack by one of its factions killed 14 people in Musanze District.

Eastern DR Congo has been volatile for nearly 30 years and remains home to more than 130 armed groups. Multiple interventions have failed to end decades of violence.