Talks: A bid by Qatar and the United States to broker a peace agreement between the Democratic Republic of the Congo government and the M23 rebels, which control eastern DRC, has faltered. Photo: Wikipedia
Former president Thabo Mbeki has thrown a diplomatic hot potato at the South African government by inviting Congolese rebel group M23 to Pretoria’s shores just months after Southern African regional troops, including the South African National Defence Force (SANDF), returned from eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo with bloodied noses.
The rebels have a delegation at the Thabo Mbeki Foundation’s second African Peace and Security Dialogue running until Saturday, despite being designated as a terrorist organisation by the United Nations and the African Union.
Department of international relations and cooperation spokesperson Chrispin Phiri said he was not aware of their presence and directed questions about the delegations in attendance to the Mbeki Foundation. The rebels’ invitation to the dialogue angered the DRC government, which in turn declined to attend and also blocked some opposition parties from attending.
Jean-Claude Kibala, the leader of the Social Movement for Renewal, had his passport confiscated as he was about to leave Kinshasa for South Africa.
DRC government spokesperson Patrick Muyaya accused Mbeki of being “on record siding with the M23 and Rwanda, who sponsor the rebels”. Rwanda has long denied sponsoring the rebels despite evidence brought forward by the UN and rights groups such as Human Rights Watch.
Rwandan government spokesperson Yolande Makolo dismissed Muyaya’s claims that Mbeki had taken sides in the conflict. Muyaya said the DRC had not formally complained to Pretoria because the dialogue was “an informal gathering.”
When a group is flagged as a terrorist outfit, according to UN statutes, its members should face travel restrictions, deportations, financial sanctions and asset freezes. In some cases, it becomes a criminal offence to deal with them.
In December 2023, the Congo River Alliance (AFC), the political arm of the M23, was formed in Nairobi, Kenya. This rattled diplomatic relations, resulting in DRC recalling its envoys from Nairobi and Tanzania, which hosts the headquarters of the East African Community. Kenya had refused to arrest the AFC members in Nairobi at the time.
Congolese nationals who seek to visit South Africa are required to apply for visas, meaning those at the dialogue must have been granted visas by the government.
Former DRC president Joseph Kabila, facing a treason trial in absentia in Kinshasa, didn’t attend the dialogue but has representatives such as Professor Nehemiah Mwilanya and Francine Muyumba from his Common Front for Congo party.
Mbeki Foundation chief operations officer Lukhanyo Neer defended the M23’s presence.
“This is a peace dialogue, and it’s important to engage all actors. The M23 are active in eastern DRC, and there’s no peaceful end to the conflict without engaging them. We did not only invite the M23, the DRC government was invited too, they declined. The dialogue is not all about DRC. We also invited stakeholders from Mozambique, the government sent representatives from civil society,” he said.
The M23 rebels have a strong impact on the fragile power dynamics in the Great Lakes region, particularly in eastern DRC where they established a government after taking control of North Kivu and South Kivu, two provinces in the DRC, in February.
Security and risk analyst Piers Pigou said he found nothing wrong with the invitation of the M23.
“A lot has happened in recent months. There’s a peace deal in place signed on 27 June, and the M23 is engaged in talks in Doha, Qatar, with the same DRC government under the careful watch of the United States, Qatar, and the AU,” he told the Mail & Guardian.
Mbeki Foundation chairperson Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi said the dialogue underway was not a peace broker but an environment for progressive discussions.
“Allow me to make some comments in the interest of defining this event as a strategic intervention. Let me be clear: we are not convening as a talk shop — nor do we offer the African Peace and Security Dialogue as a negotiation forum,” she said in her opening address.
According to the foundation, there are four outcomes expected: ideas and practical solutions for addressing peace and security challenges in Africa, collaboration and networking among African leaders, policymakers, and scholars on peace and security issues.
As well as a framework for ongoing dialogue and follow-up action to address peace and security challenges in Africa and raise awareness about the impact of ongoing negative peace and security on Africa’s economic, political, and cultural environment.
Happy to be in South Africa
Despite sending SANDF packing out of eastern DRC in combat, the M23 rebels said they were freely attending the second African Peace and Security Dialogue as the good guys.
Spokesperson Lawrence Kanyuka told the M&G that SANDF, which was deployed to lead the Southern African Development Community Mission in DRC [SAMIDRC] that also included Tanzanian and Malawian forces, had almost entirely and peacefully left North Kivu.
“The way we conducted ourselves shows that we are actually the good guys. There were no cases of abuse, and so when we sent a team to attend the peace dialogue in South Africa, we did so with a clear mind, wanting to promote brotherly peace in the region. Only a few remain, but it’s safe to say SANDF’s departure is almost complete,” he said but declined to give numbers for security reasons.
The only SANDF contingent active in the DRC at present is deployed under the UN mission Monusco, director for corporate communications, Rear Admiral Prince Tshabalala said.
“The Monusco is a permanent mission, and we are part of the Force Intervention Brigade. We deploy our troops on a rotational basis for a year. As long as Monusco still requests UN troops, we are part of the multinational peacekeeping force that supports the mission in DRC,” he said.
On Wednesday, the Joint Oversight Committee comprising the US, Qatar, the DRC, Rwanda, Togo, which is the AU facilitator and the AU Commission, met for the second time to review the agreement in Washington, DC.
The meeting acknowledged a “slowness in the implementation of some elements of the agreement and underscored their shared resolve to ensure its complete and timely implementation to advance peace, stability, and prosperity in eastern DRC and the broader Great Lakes region”.
The committee also noted cases of violence that persist in eastern DRC in violation of the ceasefire. Both Rwanda and DRC reaffirmed their obligation to immediately and unconditionally cease any state support to non-state armed groups except as necessary to facilitate implementation of the agreement.