Kigali announced its withdrawal the day before, after the Conference of Heads of State and Government agreed to extend Equatorial Guinea’s mandate as rotating president of the subregional organization for another year, instead of passing it over to Rwanda, which was next in line.
The summit recommended this action due to the confrontation with the DRC, but the Rwandans consider it to represent “the instrumentalization” of the Community by Kinshasa, with the support of some member states, a decision that Kigali rejects, as it has the mandate by right.
“The subsequent silence and inaction confirm the organization’s failure to apply its own rules,” they lamented in an official statement, adding that, given the denial of its rights guaranteed by the constitutive texts, Rwanda sees no reason to remain a member of the organization.
ECLAC has repeatedly condemned the actions of the March 23 Movement (M23), a rebel group supported by Kigali, and last February demanded the immediate withdrawal of the Rwandan Defense Forces from Congolese territory.
These tensions set hurdles to the progress of peace negotiations to end the security crisis in eastern DRC. Following their failures in the Angolan capital, these negotiations are now being conducted by Washington, which has already presented a revised draft agreement to the parties. At the same time, talks are taking place in Doha, between the DRC government and the rebels, mediated by Qatar, but according to Radio Okapi, no significant progress has been made after 32 days of talks during the second round.
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