(PHOTO: An anti-M23 rioter in Goma on Saturday, August 24, 2013)
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The 7th extraordinary summit of the heads of state of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGRL) opens today in Kampala.
Yesterday, according to Radio Okapi, North Kivu Governor Julien Paluku made some tough comments to the press at Goma regarding the outcome of the summit.
These comments echo what's being hotly debated through the grapevine of Radio-Trottoir, which evinces the extraordinary pressure that the whole nation is bringing to bear on President Joseph Kabila on the eve of the "national consultations between all the driving forces of the nation," in the Congolese political speak. (By the way, those consultations were due to start today but were postponed to September 7 due to the absence of Kabila in Kinshasa.)
Gov. Paluku said:
"What we don't want to hear in Goma [coming from Kampala] is anything that has to do with ceasefire, anything that has to do with cessation of hostilities!"
Adding:
"We've seen in the past how, each time there have been summits of Heads of state, they were asking to either the M23 or to the [DRC] government that each one keep positions they were holding.
"I believe it's no longer today the business of a summit, be it of heads of state, to consecrate the de facto balkanization [of the DRC] by asking to the the [DRC] to leave to the M23 a given territory.
"We must ensure that the Kampala summit would force the M23 to lay down weapons and to have them let go of the areas they're occupying.
"We shouldn't be doing as if we mostly care about the M23 whereas we should be caring instead about the population that's suffering in IDPs' camps so as to truly be in line with the will of the people of North Kivu."
Those remarks made by Gov. Paluku are a rebuke of the stance of the UNSG Special Envoy in the Great Lakes Mary Robinson--a "Kagame groupie like Blair," charges the grapevine of Sidewalk Radio--who said a few days ago:
"We've already tried a military response that has succeeded. Now, there's a window for a political response."
A "political response" or a "political solution" triggers in the mind of the Congolese scenes of back-room "peace deals" packaged by hardened anti-Congolese international brokers who, time and again, have arranged botched reconciliations and abetted public display of impunity.
A military solution that would obtain the eradication of M23 is what the Congolese are yearning for. And it seems more and more certain that this military solution would only be achieved through armed confrontation with Rwanda.
And as I said in the previous post, there's maybe an unhealthy dose of bravado and moxie flowing through the veins of some Congolese hawks who think that in the event of military confrontation with Rwanda, the FARDC would prevail without firing a shot, so to speak.
Among these hawks, there are some nationalistic elements who resent that the DRC has turned into what they call a "MONUSCO protectorate."
They claim that MONUSCO has the FARDC on a short leash, preventing the Congolese troops from moving decisively against M23 by withholding critical logistical support.
A conspiracy theory that accuses MONUSCO of being an active participant in the "balkanization" of the Congo, as it grants and guarantees M23 a mini-state, that is, the territory they're occupying.
The nationalists see therefore Rwanda's military intervention as the trigger that would cement the resolve and determination of the Congolese to not only resist the invasion but to export war and insecurity on Rwandan territory as well.
"We're facing a real state called Rwanda," one of them told me. "We're a MONUSCO protectorate. And as long as we're a protectorate, Rwanda will continue to trample our sovereignty with impunity."
Other recreant Congolese, however, think that the DRC would rid itself of M23 by magic, without confronting Rwanda head-on.
Yesterday, I sat quietly in a taxi as a woman was scolding one of those phony tough and crazy brave who rode with us in the cab.
"Are you a real man?" she said. "You just said that the international community is in cahoots with Rwanda. How can you then advocate war with Rwanda? That's the only thing I'll tell you before I shut up. I'm not going to listen any longer to your stupid theory of nationalism and patriotism. Tell that theory to the people of Bukavu and Goma who'd bear the brunt of Rwanda's savagery!"
Is a "real man" a coward?
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PHOTO CREDITS: Photo by Charly Kasereka Via actudukivu.blogspot.com
