Address, Kinshasa, Saturday, December 15, 2012; picture taken at 10:53
HRS Kinshasa Time (GMT +1)
***
DRC President Joseph Kabila delivered this mid-morning a 30-minute
uncharacteristically warlike State of the Nation Address to both
houses of Parliament meeting in congress in the presence of the
diplomatic corps accredited to Kinshasa and the constituted bodies of
the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The address, carried live on state-owned radio and TV channel RTNC,
was also meant for the "residents of the Republic," to whom Kabila
threw some raw red meat.
As this year's State of the Nation Address occurs 225 days after the
launch of the Rwandan-fuelled M23 insurgency in North Kivu where large
swarths of that province are still under the insurgents' occupation,
it was therefore normal that Kabila's speech focus on the security and
humanitarian crises in eastern DRC.
From the outset of his address, Kabila named Rwanda as the culprit of
the war in North Kivu, saying that "the war of aggression is being
waged by Rwanda."
He reminded his audience that the accord of March 23, 2009, was
concluded with dozens of various armed groups operating in North Kivu
Province.
He was therefore gobsmacked to observe that only one of those groups
should come up afterwards to question that accord on the basis of ever
"fluctuating and elastic rationales."
But the real motivation of the insurgents and their backers are
well-known, Kabila claimed: it is to create chaos, which would then
obtain investments drying up in zones of insecurity, and thus to
justify the "balkanization" of the DRC.
Kabila also dwelled at length on the plight of the more than 1,000,000
IDPs who are now forced to live in subhuman conditions by those who
"murder, assassinate, kidnap, rape, forcibly recruit children, and
pillage" on a mass scale.
And for the innocent civilians and FARDC troops who were felled in
this "unjust war imposed on us," Kabila called for a minute of silence
to honor their memory.
He further assured the audience that despite the dire forecasts issued
by the assorted "prophets of doom," the DRC will pick itself up, for
it only had "lost a battle."
Kabila then expounded the 3-pronged "front" strategy deployed by his
government to bring the crisis in North Kivu to an end.
(Back in July of this year, DRC Media Minister Lambert Mende called
these 3 fronts a "triptych panel.")
The 3 fronts are diplomatic, political, and military fronts.
1) DIPLOMATIC FRONT
Kabila said that the "diplomatic offensive" unleashed by his
government achieved the following results: 5 summits convened by the
International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), 2 by the
Southern African Development Community (SADC), and actions at the
United Nations.
These efforts have obtained, among other things, SADC pledge to
mobilize its "Standby Force" in the upcoming deployment of the
so-called "Neutral Force."
Kabila also noted that despite its critical support to the FARDC,
MONUSCO has evinced, "in the current crisis, the limits of its
approach to our country" absent an utter revamping of its narrow
mandate.
2) POLITICAL FRONT
The ongoing talks at Kampala "with those who have plotted the
aggression against our country," Kabila claimed, were meant to expose
their "motivations" and "to clarify the stakes and establish
responsibilities."
3) MILITARY FRONT
The military setbacks suffered by the FARDC, Kabila argued, were also
an "opportunity" to "transform the war into an opportunity for
[national] unity" as well as to rethink the country's "priorities on
security."
Kabila also claimed to have realized that this war should translate
into concrete actions aimed at hastening the rhythm of the capacity
building in the security sector.
Kabila appealed to the Congolese nation to take "ownership of the
stakes" in the security sector while warning citizens against the
pitfall of ethnic hatred.
What mostly thrilled Kinois, besides naming Rwanda as the aggressor,
was this stern warning addressed to those who wage wars on the Congo
"in recurrent manner":
"Any new aggression attempt will be suicidal" to its culprits, Kabila said.
***
PHOTO: Alex Engwete
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