In a recent trip to the Dominican Republic of the Congo (I’ll refer to it as the DRC), French president Emmanuel Macron met with President of the Congo, Felix Tshisekedi and was urged to pursue sanctions against Rwanda. Macron, in response, told the president that the only way that it would be possible to pursue any future sanctions against Rwanda, there would need to be a grace period in order to allow for the expirations of multiple concurrent peace negotiations. However, Macron did note the the DRC president that they would remain, “faithful to its role as an unwavering ally of [DRC] to defend its integrity and sovereignty.”
The DRC, in the past few years, has been struggling immensely with rebel groups trying to obtain the countries natural resources. Most notably, the group known as M23. Recently, the Rwandan government has been suspected to have been providing aid to M23, causing casualties, thievery, and multiple other acts of aggression within the DRC. Rwanda, in response, denied all claims, noting that it was mere deception, and not true in the slightest. The DRC, and government responsible for trying to suspend and rid of all rebel groups, insists that Rwanda is behind the scenes, helping the rebel group. Obviously, as most mainstream events tend to cause, an uprising within the citizens of the DRC have chosen to protest both Rwanda and Macron claiming that they are both responsible for the M23 and other rebel groups. Macron has been looped in as there has been no direct response from the French government.
Instability within the DRC, and surrounding countries within Sub-Saharan Africa, has led to the formation of countless terror, rebel, and anti-government groups. The formation of these groups has of course led to blame being spread across multiple countries. Rwanda, like many others, are under suspicion. While evidence in the case of Rwanda is damning and very possible, it can be dangerous for blame like this to be spread in the absence of evidence. Many countries, not claiming the DRC, have and will use others as a scapegoat in order to direct blame in order to maintain security and ease tensions amongst the people. Macron, and his past/future dealings with the DRC help highlight both the positive and negative effects of creating peace treaties. Under the assumption that countries with these treaties will maintain mutual affinity, it can be dangering to highlight countries in order to create and enforce the creation of these treaties, such as what is being done to Rwanda. Even in cases of high suspicion, and very reasonable assumption.