- DRC, through its investment portal ANAPI reassures investors
- Rwanda slams US statement saying it undermines regional peace process
- EAC Heads of State order immediate cease fire in Rwanda-DRC conflict
Rwanda should stop supporting the rebel group and withdraw its soldiers from the DRC, the US State Department has said in an official statement.
This US call for Rwanda to ‘cease and desist’ aiding rebel groups and to also recall its troops from the DRC is the latest effort by the international community to intervene in the protracted dispute between the two countries.
The US says Rwanda’s alleged aid to rebel factions in the DRC is undermining the regional peace process.
The statement comes only days after the East African Community (EAC) Heads of State met in the Burundi capital of Bujumbura. The meeting was an Extra-Ordinary Summit held to evaluate the “Security Situation in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo & Way Forward.”
Burundi President Evariste Ndayishimiye, who is the current Chair of the EAC, called the meeting to revisit new alternatives to the Rwanda-DRC dispute.
Though both Rwanda President Paul Kagame and the DRC President Felix Tshisekedi were present and a strong resolution announced for, “immediate ceasefire by all parties and the withdrawal of all armed groups, including foreign,” the verbal and written resolutions are yet to materialize on the ground.
Army chiefs were ordered by the EAC Heads of State to meet within a week and set timelines for the ordered withdrawal.
Barely a fortnight prior to the Bujumbura Etra-Ordinary EAC Summit, the EAC leaders again met in Ethiopia on Feb. 17 again to broker peace between the two neighbouring countries.
That meeting resulted in an executive order for the DRC rebels, the infamous M23 rebels to withdraw from all occupied areas in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
The executive order issued an ultimatum that ends at the end of this month, for M23 rebels to withdraw on or by March 30. No statement has been issued thereafter by the M23 rebels as to whether they will comply or not.
However, the M23 rebels are not showing any signs of heeding the order. As of late last year, the M23 rebels seized key mining towns in the DRC North Kivu province including the strategic mining town of Rubaya.
Also Read: DRC investment summit an opportunity for EAC’s economic growth
Rwanda slams US and International Community for ‘undermining EAC peace process’
In a rebuttal to the US, the government of Rwanda has issued its own statement saying the US is only undermining the ongoing regional peace process.
According to Kigali, the US statement is accusative and wrongfully implies that Rwanda is in fact backing the M23 rebel group.
“The United States appears consistently out of step with the decisions of the regional processes and risks undermining them by continuing to endorse the DRC government’s false narrative blaming Rwanda for the crisis.”
Rwanda strongly denies the allegations of any involvement with the DRC M23 rebels. In its own narrative, Rwanda maintains that it is the Congolese military that is siding with Rwanda’s own rebel group, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR).
Rwanda remains adamant using bold phrases like “repeated failure” by the international community to condemn the DRC for its “preservation” of the Rwandan FDLR rebels” within the DRC borders.
“We cannot accept Rwanda’s security concerns to be trivialized and ignored,” Rwanda asserted in a public statement issued.
Rwanda has put its foot down saying it will not budge given what it describes as “Rwanda’s legitimate security concerns.”
That said, the government of Rwanda says it will continue to deploy and reinforce “defensive and preventive mechanisms to guard against violations of our airspace and borders.”
In the wake of the Extra-Ordinary meeting of the EAC Heads of State, Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame took to Twitter and accused the DRC President Felix Tshisekedi of ‘joking’ when he promised a regime change when he got into power.
“I think the president of Congo at one point it must have escaped from his thoughts, remember when he said he’s going to bring regime change in Rwanda, of course, I didn’t take that seriously. He must have been joking,” President Kagame.
Also Read: Can the EAC diffuse tension between Rwanda & DRC?
ANAPI, DRC investment body reassures investors and stakeholders
While the world waits to see if the two countries will heed the call by the regional Heads of State to ‘cease and desist’ all aggressive military actions and withdraw their troops, DRC, the latest member of the EAC has reassured investors and stakeholders that the country is safe and open for business.
Through the National Agency for the Promotion of Investments (ANAPI), which operates under the DRC Ministry of Planning National Investment Promotion Agency, the DRC reassures stakeholders that investment in the country is safe and fruitful.
ANAPI is the DRC investment portal and has thus far eased the process of business registration and setup in the DRC. Several incentives have been announced for foreign investors to ensure permits are easily attained.
ANAPI has also created an online portal for business registration and listed priority investment areas including mining, trade, and agriculture. DRC offers huge returns on investment in all these sectors given its sheer market size of over 100 million people, geographical positioning, and favourable investment policies.
Overall, as a member of the EAC, the DRC also offers investors easy access to the region’s key seaports of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania and Mombasa in Kenya.
The DRC is also well on its way to securing one of the World’s largest hydropower plants under the Inga Dam project.
The DRC is a member of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), it is also a member of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), the Economic Community of the Great Lakes Countries (CEPGL) and the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR).
As the country goes into its general elections later this year, investors can expect improved conditions and ease of doing business. The resolution by the Heads of State and the cease fire order is expected to come into effect and usher a new era of peace and prosperity in the DRC and the region.
