By John Karuranga
Gen Bosco Ntaganda whose arrest warrant has been issued by the ICC.
Today is not a day for pointing fingers and trading accusations as to who is supporting who or who is fighting who in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). But it should be a day for consoling and showing our sympathy for the thousands of Congolese citizens who have been displaced and made homeless in their own country, and many forced to seek refuge in neighbouring countries. The FDLR in particular has been a source of instability in the DRC and their links with the Interahamwe has never been broken.
Murders and gross human rights abuses have been going on in the DRC for many years but the United Nations Organisation Stabilising Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO) has been totally ineffective in controlling, let alone eradicating these abuses. This is the biggest UN force in the entire world but is also the most ineffective.
Today, some people are using the current political instability in the DRC to try to implicate Rwanda in the crisis in DRC. We believe the conflict in the DRC is political that can be resolved through negotiations on the basis of the March 23, 2009 Amani Leo Peace Agreement (ALPA) between Gen Ntaganda and the President Joseph Kabila. We therefore, think that the intention of the so called warrant of arrest by the ICC wasn’t well thought through.
Gen. Ntaganda is just a fig leaf for the political failure by international community to resolve the deep crisis in the DRC. Gen. Ntaganda is a product of the crisis in the DRC, but he is not the cause of it. Sending him to the ICC will not solve the problems of the DRC and this is why we argue for a peaceful, negotiated settlement. Rwanda was not the one that ordered the arrest or declared war on Gen. Ntaganda. Rwanda was not responsible nor the source for the violation of the M23 Accord that led to its failure. Hence, this marketing of dreams and tales of fabricating allegations about Rwanda’s involvement in the DRC crisis is not helpful and does not contribute to bringing peace and stability in the Great Lakes of Region of Nations.