WHERE VICTIMS

TRANSFORM


INTO SURVIVORS

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has been under an unprecedented existential threat for more than 25 years, with the aggression of the Kigali regime and the invasion of large swathes of national territory, taking the form of annexation with the establishment of illegitimate parallel administrations, in violation of the United Nations Charter and international law, and in defiance of calls for a ceasefire and the withdrawal of occupying forces.

It is in this alarming context that we take advantage of the 12th anniversary of the Framework Agreement for Peace, Security and Cooperation in the DRC and the Region, signed in Addis Ababa on February 24, 2013, to reaffirm that it is the only peace agreement aimed at addressing the root causes of armed violence and instability.

There is an urgent need to revitalize the “Accord of Hope”, in which the Congolese state, the countries of the region and the international community came together to achieve lasting peace in the DRC and the African Great Lakes region by adopting a series of commitments whose effective implementation was to be facilitated by follow-up mechanisms at national, regional and international level to consolidate a strategy for peace and development.

It is regrettable to note that the lack of political will on the part of the Congolese authorities, coupled with the bad faith of the destabilizing states in the region and the lack of diplomatic mobilization on the part of the co-sponsoring institutions, has led to the deterioration of a situation which today threatens international peace and security.

It is never too late to act and adopt urgent and decisive measures to put pressure on the forces of aggression and occupation and stem the escalation of the crisis. The DRC’s partner countries and institutions, in particular the co-sponsors of the Framework Agreement, can no longer accept or tolerate these flagrant violations of international law without reacting firmly.

The time has come to move from words to deeds. Like all peoples, the Congolese nation has the right to self-determination and to live in peace. The failure of the signatories to the Framework Agreement to respect their commitments, and their repeated calls for an immediate ceasefire and unconditional withdrawal from the zones occupied by the Rwandan army and the M23, must be accompanied by vigorous sanctions and the suspension of military and security cooperation by all states and institutions with leverage over the parties to the conflict.

For those who wish to know more about the Framework Agreement, its potentials and the lack of implementation of the commitments made by the Congolese State, neighboring countries and the international community, please read our publication made at the 10th anniversary in 2013.

The macabre toll of the recent fighting between the Congolese army and the Rwandan armed forces and their M23 auxiliaries in the city of Goma is slowly emerging. According to the World Health Organization report, as of January 31, 2025, 773 lifeless bodies have been counted and others are still strewn along the avenues in an advanced state of decomposition. In addition to these deaths, there are approximately 3,000 injured, without sufficient or effective assistance. 

This horrible human butchery adds to the statistics of more than six million men, women and children killed over three decades in these endless wars imposed on the Congolese people. 

Once again, the international community will not say that it did not know. For years, UN reports have pointed out Rwanda’s responsibility in organizing and conducting these wars, but to date, nothing significant has been done to stop these serious violations of international and humanitarian law . On the contrary, the European Union and several Western countries have maintained their cooperation with Rwanda and continue to indirectly finance, with millions of dollars, its warlike and deadly expeditions in the DR Congo as well as the plundering of its mineral resources. 

For decades and again in recent weeks, I have continued to alert and mobilize international opinion on the urgency of imposing peace in the DR Congo and in the African Great Lakes region, but in vain. Compared to the intervention of the West in the war in Ukraine, that of Congo is a neglected war and Congolese lives do not objectively have sufficient value to merit attention. 

It is the policy of double standards and two-speed humanism that we have decried and denounced on several occasions. 

And yet solutions exist to permanently stop this catastrophe. 

First of all, there is an urgent need to cut military and financial aid to Rwanda and impose economic sanctions. 

Then, the Peace, Security and Cooperation Framework Agreement for the DRC and the region, known as the Addis Ababa Framework Agreement, signed on February 24, 2013 by 11 countries (DR Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Angola, Tanzania, Zambia, South Sudan, Central African Republic) joined by Kenya and Sudan on January 31, 2014 as well as the UN, the African Union, the ICGLR, the SADC and sponsored by the European Union, the United States, the United Kingdom, Belgium and France, had already marked the path to a just and lasting peace in the African Great Lakes sub-region. It is more than urgent to implement its recommendations. 

Finally, since the exploitation of natural resources is the real crux of the matter, for weeks and right now, I have been in Europe to raise awareness among governments, international institutions, businesses and civil society organizations about the importance of the legal, peaceful and win-win supply of these resources with a view to ” Business for Peace ” which promotes the sustainable interest of the Congolese people at the same time as that of businesses that want the strategic raw materials that the Congolese subsoil abounds in. This is why, in response to and in support of the initiative of the Peace Pact of the Catholic and Protestant Churches of Congo (CENCO-ECC), I renew my call for the organization of an ” International Conference on Sustainable Peace in the DR Congo and the African Great Lakes Region “. 

I strongly condemn this new attack by Rwanda-M23 and the massacres that followed, 

I strongly condemn the complicit silence and inaction of the international community in the face of the serious violations of human rights and humanitarian rights committed in the DR Congo, 

I call on the Congolese people to unite around peace through the initiatives of CENCO-ECC and an international Conference on Peace, 

I express my compassion to the people of North Kivu and Goma in the painful ordeal they are going through, 

I extend my deepest condolences to the families of our fallen soldiers and to all those who have lost a loved one in this war, 

I express my full support to the people of South Kivu and Bukavu who live in fear, haunted by the spectre of a war that is dangerously approaching. 

I am committed to relentlessly continuing my national and international advocacy for Peace in the DR Congo and in the African Great Lakes region. 

Hold on my dear compatriots, GOD IS FOR US. 

Oslo, February 2, 2025 

Dr. Denis Mukwege 

I am very concerned after reading the latest report of the United Nations Group of Experts on the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Despite the agreement for a humanitarian truce and a ceasefire, the Kigali regime continues to flout international law and pursue its policy of territorial expansion with its AFC/M23 coalition auxiliaries supported and controlled by 3,000 to 4,000 RDF elements. In a flagrant violation of the territorial integrity and Congolese sovereignty, those troops use sophisticated military equipment and high-tech weapons in the territories of Nyiragongo, Rutshuru, and Masisi, in the North Kivu Province.

The war of occupation and aggression is gradually taking on the appearance of an annexation by foreign forces, with the establishment of a parallel administration, similar to that of a State. It controls the conquered territories, in particular the Rubaya area, whose mines constitute one of the largest sources of coltan in the world.

The experts mandated by the Security Council have reported, with supporting evidence, that the AFC/M23 coalition exercises a monopoly on the fraudulent extraction, trade and illegal export of minerals from Rubaya to Rwanda. This causes the most significant recorded contamination of the supply chains of “3T” minerals (tin, tantalum and tungsten) in the Great Lakes region for the last ten years.

Experts estimate that the AFC/M23 coalition controls the trade and transport of approximately 120 tons of coltan per month and that the tax on the production and trade of Rubaya coltan generates at least USD 800,000 per month for the occupying forces.

Faced with the critical situation prevailing in eastern DRC, we once again urge the community of States to no longer accept superficial condemnations and empty words. Strong sanctions must be adopted against the actors of destabilization. Immediate and decisive measures must be taken to ensure that Rwanda ceases its support for the M23 and immediately withdraws its forces from Congolese soil.

It is time to put an end to this economic war and the illegal extraction and trade of strategic minerals in the heart of Africa if the economically developed world wants to pursue the energy transition and the fight against climate change in a clean and fair manner.

Bukavu, 01/09/2025
Dr. Denis Mukwege