The ambassador of the DRC to the Benelux, Christian Ndongala Nkuku, met on Wednesday, February 21 with members of the Subcommittee on Foreign Affairs of the European Parliament, followed by the European External Action Service (EEAS) concerning the recent demonstrations in Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, against Western embassies and the Monusco.

Christian Ndongala explained to these European partners of the DRC about these events which had a spontaneous nature but that for now.

The situation, he reassured, was under control of the Congolese security forces, both for all the diplomatic staff accredited in the DRC, and with regards to their properties in accordance with the provisions of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. During these demonstrations, Congolese have expressed their frustration in front of “the passivity of the international community”, regarding the aggression that the DRC is a victim of from Rwanda and the unjust sufferings of the Congolese populations in the east of the country, he pointed out, before affirming that on the military front, the situation remains tense particularly in North Kivu, where violent battles are reported in the surroundings of the city of Goma, between the Congolese army and the terrorist movement M23 supported by the Rwandan army.

For the Congolese diplomat, President Félix Tshisekedi has not closed all doors to dialogue, "but not at any price and not without conditions". He declared that this issue is framed by the processes of Luanda and Nairobi whose terms of reference are known to everyone and have never been applied by Rwanda, a major protagonist of the security crisis in the East of the country, which has nevertheless ratified them solemnly.

He recalled that settling this conflict through diplomatic means with Rwanda is still valid, but as long as the Rwandan troops are on the soil of the DRC, no negotiation will be possible, inviting his interlocutors to clarify the political stance of the European Union regarding Rwanda, which, he contended, has become "unreadable" due to a double-speak, stating that his country expects from the international community "more than condemnations without tomorrow,” but rather firm sanctions as seen elsewhere, to bend the formally identified aggressor, specifically Rwanda.

Ambassador Christian Ndongala also denounced the memorandum of understanding signed between the European Union and Rwanda on sustainable value chains for raw materials, indicating that various United Nations experts’ reports recognize that these blood minerals are for the most part, if not all, extracted from quarries in the DRC and smuggled into Rwanda.

Hence, he questioned the relevance of the message that the European Union would want to convey to the different protagonists about these facts.

Boni Tsala