Kabila calls on South Africa to refrain from backing Tshisekedi’s “tyrannical regime”

Joseph Kabila, the former president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, stated that South Africa should cease deploying soldiers to back President Felix Tshisekedi’s “tyrannical regime” and that any attempt to resolve the DR Congo problem that overlooks its underlying reasons would not result in enduring peace.

“Efforts to end the crisis will be in vain if the crisis and its root causes are not properly addressed,” Kabila stated in an opinion piece that appeared in the South African newspaper the Sunday Times.

Kabila urged his successor, Tshisekedi, who has pledged to use force to put an end to the war with AFC/M23 rebels, to see the situation as “political, social, moral, and ethical.”

“The issue of national and foreign armed groups present on Congolese soil must be resolved in order to restore peace and stability in the eastern regions of [DR Congo].”

“The crisis is not limited to the careless actions of M23 – misleadingly presented as a group of anarchists, proxies of a foreign state with legitimate demands of their own – or to disagreements between two neighboring countries, DRC and Rwanda,” he continued, “contrary to what authorities in Kinshasa wish everyone to believe.”

“The civil war is threatening to destabilize the entire region, and DR Congo is on the verge of imploding,” he stated.

“The successful conclusion of negotiations between the DR Congo and Rwanda, or the military defeat of M23, will not end the numerous violations of the constitution and human rights, as well as the repeated massacres of the Congolese population by Tshisekedi’s police and military forces,” he stated.

Tshisekedi accused Rwanda of aiding M23, calling it a terrorist organization. Additionally, he has charged Kabila of supporting the Alliance Fleuve Congo (AFC), which is comprised of M23 rebels.

Tshisekedi “tore apart” an arrangement that put him in power in 2019, according to Kabila. He said that the Sun City Agreement of 2002, which was signed by Congolese warring groups in South Africa, had been ignored by the present authorities.

“SADC ought to be more aware.”

Kabila noted that the situation, which began in 2021 with the resurgence of M23, was multifaceted.

After forcing the East African Community Regional Force to observe a tenuous ceasefire, Tshisekedi sought a military solution to the crisis. The Southern African Development Community (SADC) sent a mission to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) to fight alongside the Congolese army, the FDLR, European mercenaries, Burundian forces, and local groups known as Wazalendo.

Kabila warned that the conflict will not be resolved by the South Africa-SADC force.

Given its member nations’ pasts, SADC ought to be more knowledgeable. The Congolese people’s complaints against their government need to be addressed. New waves of political unrest, insecurity, institutional instability, armed conflict, or even civil war will undoubtedly result from the country’s existing poor governance continuing.

He denounced SADC’s military assistance as a waste of money that promotes authoritarianism over democracy.

“A comprehensive approach is needed to address the situation, not only the deployment of troops and military hardware. This is equivalent to squandering precious resources to uphold a dictatorship rather than assisting the Democratic Republic of the Congo in its transition to democracy, peace, and stability and becoming a resource for the continent and southern Africa.

The world is keeping an eye on whether South Africa, which is renowned for its humanism and principles, would keep sending soldiers to the Democratic Republic of the Congo to back a despotic government and oppose the goals of the Congolese people, Kabila said.

Unconstitutional elections

Kabila, who governed the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 2001 to 2019, said that in addition to Tshisekedi’s violation of the Republican Pact, which put him in office, the current president also called for a “sham election in December 2023” in order to hold onto power.

The head of state became the ultimate ruler of the nation, he said, since “these [elections] were held in violation of the legal framework and relevant international standards, which amplified the illegitimacy of the ruler, and artificially reduced the weight of the political opposition.”

Kabila characterized the 2023 elections as “a big democratic setback” because of Tshisekedi’s openly declared plan to amend the constitution.

He went on to say that Tshisekedi had “muzzled any form of political opposition” through forced exile of journalists, politicians, and opinion leaders, arbitrary arrests, intimidation, and extrajudicial and summary killings.