As a group of 83 FDLR rebels turned themselves in on Sunday in the face of threatened action by the combined forces of the UN and Congolese army, the Rwandan government is crisscrossing the region and lobbying its traditional allies to allow Rwanda go alone against the FDLR.

It’s alleged that the UN troops in the Democratic Republic of Congo are taking up positions to support a planned offensive against FDLR rebels in the East after they ignored a deadline to surrender, a UN spokesman said Monday.

The FDLR a Rwandan rebel group that has battled the RPF Regime since 1994 from the Democratic Republic of Congo was given until January 2 to give themselves up or face military action.  However, the RPF regime has benefited more from the FDLR existence than the FDLR itself.  The National Budget that half of it is funded by the international donors goes to the military in the pretext of the national security and specifically fighting FDLR.

Unfortunately, all the money that is designated to the ministry of defence is shared by the Kagame and his in-laws in the shoddy deals or defense companies like Horizon or COTRACO. Because all the money spent on these companies affiliated to RPF (ICYAMA) is unquestionable, they use it to buy luxury items that the President and his family are addicted to.

The death toll on the Rwandans and Congolese just to mention non combatants have risen to almost 7 million people since the UN Mapping reported was published. Without counting the price of soldiers that are killed on both sides on what many military strategists call unjust wars. If the UN succumbs to the Rwandan pressure this will not only cause the death of more civilians but will not achieve its objective of rooting out FDLR without sacrificing the innocent women and children.

“The UN mission has pre-positioned its troops and enablers to support offensive operations against the FDLR in keeping with its mandate,” said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric. The real problem for Rwanda now is not FDLR it’s rather the bad governance of the RPF regime that has suffocated the free media and peaceful assembly and is killing all its political opponents without being put to task by the same international community that is demanding the FDLR to disarm.

The UN mission chief Martin Kobler briefed the UN Security Council earlier Monday on the plan for the 20,000-strong MONUSCO force to support Congolese government troops in their military campaign. Despite the United Nations doubts that it will not achieve its military objective without political solutions, has failed to convince the Rwanda and international community that the political environment in Rwanda needs recourse rather than going ahead by announcing that its prepared to attack the FDLR.

“Military operations have the potential to weaken but not to eliminate the FDLR and the military solution needs to be part of a larger comprehensive strategy that includes a number of non-military steps,” Dujarric told reporters.

This  is what the political analysts call opening the political  space  in Rwanda, but the spokes person  for MONUSCO Dujarric calls it non- military steps, because they don’t want to annoy the Kagame regime which the whole international community recognizes as brutal and undemocratic. The East African Community the block that Rwanda belongs has also failed to unite on this issue of FDLR.  Indeed, many have argued that the worst enemies in this region are greedy politicians and dictators who are more than willing to kill thousands just to stay in power and steal from public coffers.

Therefore the real cause of the armed groups in the region is the result of same reasons that brought the same governments of the likes Uganda of Yoweri Museveni, Paul Kagame of Rwanda and Pierre Nkurunziza of Burundi. They led the armed groups of their respective countries arguing that the regimes they were fighting were dictatorial, but they have proved to be worse that than the same regimes they replaced.

According to the political analysts the Tanzanian government   was not convinced that the Security pact was to benefit the peoples of the respective countries or was just to protect the leaders and keep them in power for ever, indeed, in an EAC security meeting held in January 2013 to discuss a common security protocol, Tanzania expressed reservations about a clause that required member states to “assist each other” during times of war. It sought clarity on whether one country going to war would enjoin other EAC members.

Because the Rwandan government has no body to consult and having a rubber stamp parliament has hurriedly become the first member of the EAC to ratify the East African Community Mutual Defense Pact for regional co-operation. President Paul Kagame has assented to the protocol, and the instruments of ratification to be exchanged with partner states have already been issued.

Once all the three have ratified the Defense protocol will legally allow armed forces from member countries to conduct joint military operations when combating terrorism and other international crimes, but the fact that Tanzania and Burundi have expressed their reservations will make it difficult for them to win the international community backing.

Already the Kigali ‘s image abroad is tainted with gross human rights abuses, disappearances of innocent civilians, murders, and political assassinations, even beyond its borders, this will therefore put more pressure on Kagame to accept the peace pact that every Rwandan cherishes for the lasting peace not only in Rwanda but also in the region. The Kigali has been fighting FDLR for almost TWO decades now, it would be prudent to listen to his Tanzanian counterpart, who argues that Kagame needs to try and talk peace rather than use a gun because it has failed.  The continuation of the war will only benefit Kagame but not Rwandans.

Jacqueline Umurungi.