The Alliance of Forces for Change (AFC/M23), a coalition fighting against the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), has expressed surprise over France’s sudden decision to offer humanitarian aid to the people of Eastern Congo, 10 months after the movement claims to have liberated cities like Goma and Bukavu while President Félix Tshisekedi has since ordered banks to be closed in those regions.
Last week in Paris, during a conference on the crisis in Eastern DRC, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that his country wished to conduct humanitarian operations. However, he added that the Goma International Airport would first need to be reopened for the aid operations to take place.
Corneille Nangaa, the Coordinator of the AFC/M23 alliance, which controls parts of eastern DRC, recalled that at the end of January this year, their forces took control of the cities of Goma and Bukavu.
He said that after the liberation of these cities, President Félix Tshisekedi ordered the closure of banks and microfinance institutions that had been serving people in eastern Congo. Nangaa claimed that this decision, apart from being illegal, was aimed at oppressing Congolese citizens of Swahili origin, who are often labeled as “foreigners.”
He went on to explain that since then, residents of those areas have been living without financial access, left in a state of extreme hardship and dependency.
“What is shocking,” he said, “is that after ten months, Paris and other Western nations have suddenly remembered to call for humanitarian assistance for those same people whose bank accounts were frozen and whose money was seized.”
The AFC/M23 coordinator continued: “What hypocrisy, the so-called compassion of the rich disguised as humanitarian business! Those who claim to come and help are the same ones who rush to invent new excuses to advance their interests. It’s pure hypocrisy!”
He added: “It’s as if now, suddenly, Tshilombo [referring to President Tshisekedi] has remembered that those living in Kivu are also Congolese. As if he suddenly feels sorry for them, yet just last week, he sent Sukhoi jets and drones to bomb them indiscriminately.”
Nangaa also mentioned the issue of the people in Minembwe, who, he said, have spent six months without access to water and electricity, suffering from hunger and a lack of basic supplies such as salt, soap, and medicine.
He continued that if President Tshisekedi truly cared about his people and was not driven by ethnic discrimination, he would not have decided to close the banks in the first place.
“If Tshisekedi has truly changed his mind at the last minute and now wishes to help our Swahili-speaking citizens live normal lives,” he said, “then he should start by reopening the banks and allowing the free movement of people and goods.”
He concluded by emphasizing that the people of Eastern Congo are not beggars: “The Congolese of this region are hardworking; they do not live by stretching out their hands, they survive through their own labor.”
RADIOTV10
