A member of the M23 armed group walk alongside residents through a street of the Keshero neighborhood in Goma, on January 27, 2025. The grand project of de-escalating conflict in the DRC is unlikely to be a quick-fix or easy victory, given the complexity and contours of the conflict, says the writer. Picture: AFP
By Kim Heller
In his book, the Wizard of the Crow, the great Kenyan author Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o wrote, “It's terrible when the old have to bury the young. But it is more terrible when neither the old nor the young are there to bury each other.”
The Silencing of the Guns, a noble and necessary initiative of the African Union, which aims to put an end to violence across the Continent, is not on target. Over thirty countries on the Continent are currently caught up in a devastating and deadly cycle of conflict or warfare.
Decades-long warring in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), has led to the death and displacement of millions of people. Young and old. The dawning of 2025 did not bring any respite for the people of Congo. In late January following the capture of the DRC’s capital city, Goma, by the M23 rebel group, there was a sharp rise in hostilities and violence. Estimates from the DRC Health Ministry indicate that 773 people were killed in the conflict and 2,880 injured.
In an interview with the SABC this week, former President Thabo Mbeki said, “You can’t solve the problems of the DRC with guns”.
In yet another urgent attempt to quell the violence in the DRC, a joint summit between the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and East African Community (EAC) was held in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania last weekend. This latest summit hoped to breathe new life into the blueprints developed in two previous peace initiatives. While the Luanda and Nairobi peace processes initiated in 2022 by the African Union, had developed a clear framework to end the long-standing conflict in the DRC, the war continued. Burning issues of poor governance, human rights violations of Congolese Tutsis within DRC, and Rwanda’s sponsorship and support of M23 remain unresolved.
Eight heads of state participated in last week’s summit in Tanzania. While Rwanda’s President, Paul Kagame, attended in person, DRC President, Felix Tshisekedi, joined the summit virtually. Critical outcomes included a clarion call for urgent talks between the DRC government and all militia groups, including M23, a withdrawal of uninvited foreign forces, an immediate and unconditional ceasefire, an uninterrupted flow of humanitarian assistance and the re-opening of the Goma airport.
President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, who attended the recent summit in Tanzania described it as a beacon of hope which affirmed the “independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the DRC.” Ramaphosa said that the summit resolutions would finally lead to the drawdown of SADC troops
The grand project of de-escalating conflict in the DRC is unlikely to be a quick-fix or easy victory, given the complexity and contours of the conflict. The path to peace in the DRC is likely to be paved with many land mines. Weeks ago, the former President of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, raised uncomfortable questions not only about the capacity of the incumbent Congolese government to govern in the east of the country but also about the gravity of ethnic issues. He wrote of the “weak imprint” of the DRC government in the east of the country, which Mbeki argues has resulted in the emergence of and takeover by other forces. Mbeki stressed the need for President Tshisekedi to unify the people of Congo and be the President of all the people in Congo “including the Banyamulenge.”
Patrick Hajayandi, a specialist in peacebuilding and regional reconciliation on the Continent, penned an opinion piece in The Conversation on 7 February 2024, entitled DRC conflict: talks have failed to bring peace. Is it time to try sanctions?
Hajayandi unpacks why previous peace initiatives in the DRC have failed. One of the fault lines of the peace process, in his view, is the lack of financial support. He writes, “The African Union and regional bodies don’t have enough funding to support the interventions required to make meaningful progress.”
He also blames a lack of good faith between the involved parties, which has resulted in several violations of the Launda and Nairobi peace agreements. He cites the continued capture of territories by Rwanda-backed M23 rebels, despite a July 2024 ceasefire, as an example of such a breach. Hajayandi writes, “Rwanda must not continue to support an armed group that is attacking a neighbour. Kigali needs to be held accountable. International pressure is essential in halting attacks. The DRC government must also play its role as a guarantor of security for all its citizens”
He stresses that the structural causes of the conflict in the DRC, including resource exploitation require urgent address and remedy.
The unresolved ethnic issues and ongoing tensions between DRC and Rwanda continue to cause deep misery and threaten regional stability. Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o wrote, “Human-to-human cruelty is worse than that of beast-to-human. Worse still is the cruelty among neighbours when it drives them to raise machetes, spears, arrows, and clubs against one another.”
Just days after the call for a ceasefire, the sounds of guns have not been stilled. Clashes continue, and the humanitarian crisis is worsening. The situation remains desperate.
Hajayandi concludes, “What is needed is real pressure on the actors involved in spreading violence, forcing them to halt their destructive activities.”
Sanctions against “military and political leaders orchestrating violence against civilian populations” may be necessary to put a stop to the carnage.
The Guardian newspaper’s Archie Bland wrote this week about the possibility of the brutal fighting in the DRC spiralling into a wider war. Bland wrote, “Over the weekend, the presidents of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Rwanda – Félix Tshisekedi and Paul Kagame – were among those who took part in a regional summit aimed at ending the resurgent violence in eastern DRC. The summit ended with a call for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire. But while there was a lull in the fighting yesterday, many fear that a ceasefire is less likely than escalation to a wider regional war.”
Bland writes, “At stake is control of a mineral-rich region of crucial strategic significance, and the fate of civilians there who are frequently the subject of ethnically targeted attacks – but also the question of whether national borders can act as any sort of constraint”.
The 38th Assembly of African Union heads of state and government convenes this weekend. A new chairperson of the African Union Commission will be elected.
The new chairperson will face a daunting task. He will not only need to help steer the DRC from a heart of darkness and into a new era of light and peace but the entire Continent. For the old. And for the young.
* Kim Heller is a Political analyst and author of No White Lies: Black Politics and White Power in South Africa.
** The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of The African.