Félix Tshisekedi: “it’s dead for the elections for Rutshuru and Masisi”

Two years after the resumption of fighting in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, President Tshisekedi suggested, during an interview with French media RFI and France 24, that his country was going to use its own means to defend itself “if the international community delays in intervening”.

A declaration which comes as the country is heading at high speed towards particularly delicate legislative and presidential elections, scheduled for December 20.

A vote which could not be organized throughout the territory given the security conditions which prevail in particular in the provinces of North Kivu and Ituri.

The Head of State, during this interview, explained: “I told you that for Rutshuru, for Masisi, it was dead for the elections at the moment, I swallow it with difficulty, but I swallow it. »

For the first time, Félix Tshisekedi admitted that he was not able to organize elections everywhere in the country.

In the same interview, he explained that he had Chinese attack drones before recognizing the presence of Western soldiers in the Kivus. But there is no question for the President of the Republic to recognize that the private companies present in the region are in fact mercenary companies. After regularly explaining that it was “instructors“, the President of the Democratic Republic of Congo, as an enlightened sports fan, this time opted for the term “coachare » to designate this “good thousand” of men present in eastern DRC.

Of the “coaches » who are associated with the troops of the Congolese national army (FARDC) but also with the “Wazalendo”, non-military fighters, presented as “patriots” who have decided to take up arms to defend their country in the face of what is presented by Kinshasa as a direct aggression of the Rwandan regime under the cover of the M23.

” Cannon fodder “

How many are they ? Who are they ? No specific answer. The only near certainty behind this term “patriots” are Congolese civilians wishing to take up arms to defend their land as well as members of militias who have come to rebuild their virginity under this more presentable label and who thus benefit from rearmament at the expense of Congolese institutions.

“These Wazalendo are cheap labor, if not downright cannon fodder”explains a Congolese soldier exasperated by this cohabitation which he judges ” impossible “. “They are not soldiers. Tensions are frequent.” On November 11, about ten kilometers from Goma, this tension led to an armed quarrel which left six people dead. “The indiscipline of some, the resentment of others cannot bring anything good,” explains a young soldier who recently arrived in the region.

To add to the confusion in this region which knows more than 200 rebel groups, the UN troops of MONUSCO, detachments from certain countries of the East African Community, we discover, thanks to the revelations of Burundian civil society, the existence of a secret agreement between Bujumbura and Kinshasa for the sending of several battalions of the Burundian “intervention force” in parallel with the troops sent within the framework of the EAC. According to Burundian sources, these troops actively helping the Congolese army fought with Congolese military outfits. They managed to act without attracting attention for two months until November 5 and a crushing defeat in Masisi. Burundian soldiers were taken prisoner and exhibited by the M23. They were recognized by their family.

A Burundian organization has identified and published photos of around fifteen soldiers killed and others captured. Its president Pacifique Nininahazwe, who lives in exile, demanded explanations from the Burundian head of state, Evariste Ndayishimiye, according to Radio France Internationale.