First published at thehundred.substack.com Jean-Jacques Wondo is one of the three experts who provide analysis on this subject devoted to the recurring conflicts between Rwanda and the DRC. The concept is original and simple: three experts have 100 words to provide their opinion on 1 question that matters. It won’t tell you everything you need […]

First published at www.thenewhumanitarian.org BUTEMBO, Democratic Republic of Congo More than 170,000 people have escaped their homes in the past four months in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo amid an offensive by a previously dormant armed group that has reignited regional tensions between Great Lakes states. For several months, the M23 rebel group has fought […]

First published at https://africanarguments.org The veteran political operator François Beya Kasonga had been one of the president’s inner circle, until his sudden arrest. Few people manage to navigate the notoriously competitive and complicated world of high-level politics in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) successfully. Even fewer manage to do so consistently for several decades, […]

First published at https://africanarguments.org Joint Ugandan-Congolese military exercises may have more to do with securing roads and oil than rooting out rebels. On 16 November 2021, three suicide bombers denotated their vests in Kampala, two near parliament and one near police headquarters. At least four people were killed and 37 wounded in the blasts. Soon […]

First published at mediascapenews.com By Godwin Agaba Media has a way of propelling “unknowns” and “relatively unknowns” into the limelight and centre of things in a way most people cannot imagine. Today, someone is in total oblivion living somewhere in Cambodia or Malawi, but the next day, if he or she has an account on […]

On Saturday, February 5, 2022, Kinshasa was shaken by the information of the arrest and hearing by the ANR [1] of the all-powerful Special Advisor to the President in matters of security, François Beya known as “Fantomas”. In a communication to the RTNC, the spokesperson for the presidency confirmed this Tuesday, February 8, the suspicions of […]

Does Felix Tshisekedi clone Joseph Kabila’s electoral strategy? In the DRC, the days pass and are alike. President Tshisekedi is determined to re-enlist in 2023 after having acquired a taste for power for power. The opposite would have surprised several observers and especially disappointed his many supporters and other courtiers who would be betrayed in […]

First published at afroamerica.net On January 12, 2022,  an Extraordinary Summit of the Heads of State and Government of the SADC was held  in Malawi.  In the Summit, the SADC leaders hailed the successes of SAMIM and SADC troops in the fight against the insurgency in Mozambique, ignoring the contribution of the troops from Rwanda. […]

Six months after the establishment of the state of siege, proclaimed by President Félix Tshisekedi on May 1, 2021, the Congolese government is still unable to curb the endemic insecurity that reigns in the provinces of North Kivu and Ituri. This exceptional regime, scheduled to last 30 days under the terms of the Constitution, has just been extended […]

First published at  www.egmontinstitute.be Central Africa During his state visit to Ituri, in June 2021, Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi deplored the high levels of corruption within the Congolese army.  He considered it a major obstacle to existing security provision and pacification efforts. Located in the east of the DRC, Ituri is one of two provinces […]

First published at https://issafrica.org/iss-today/rwanda-the-emergence-of-an-african-smart-power   The country’s controversial CAR and Mozambique deployments should be seen as military diplomacy in support of economic ambitions.   Rwanda’s recent military deployments in July in Mozambique and in November 2020 in the Central African Republic (CAR) have raised criticism. Rwanda is one of Africa’s biggest contributors to United Nations […]

On December 11, 2020, the Council of the European Union decided to maintain individual restrictive measures against several personalities from the Democratic Republic of Congo until December 12, 2021, on the basis of an assessment of the situation in the country. These sanctions target several relatives of Joseph Kabila, the former Congolese president. These people were inscribed on the list by […]

After Mali, Guinea is experiencing the return of the military to power. Are we witnessing the renewal of the African Praetorian paradigm? Guinea in the footsteps of its neighbor, Mali Guinean special forces officers said on Sunday, September 5, earlier in the day, that they had captured the head of state Alpha Condé and “dissolved” the country’s constitution and institutions. “We decided […]

First published at  www.politico.com U.S. leaders have spent the last month asking Afghan leaders to step up and fight—something they’ve known for years wasn’t going to happen. Dr. Jonathan Schroden directs the Countering Threats and Challenges Program at the CNA Corporation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research and analysis organization based in Arlington, Virginia. The views expressed […]

First published at www.worldpoliticsreview.com In early May, in a televised address, the Democratic Republic of Congo’s president, Felix Tshisekedi, declared martial law in North Kivu and Ituri, two provinces on the country’s eastern border with Uganda and Rwanda, and placed them under military rule. In justifying this draconian measure, Tshisekedi invoked the regular mass killings […]

First published at reuters.com KINSHASA (Reuters) – United Nations experts said on Wednesday they had been unable to find evidence of direct support by Islamic State for an Islamist militia in eastern Congo, which was blacklisted in March by Washington as a terrorist group. Experts on Central Africa have been debating whether the Allied Democratic […]

First published at africanarguments.org Since President Tshisekedi took office in 2019, the Congo’s relations with key neighbours have changed significantly. In the last few weeks, President Felix Tshisekedi has taken bold steps to address insecurity in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and forge new international relationships. His government’s relationships with three key partners […]

First published at afroamerica.net On May 26-27, 2021, French President Emmanuel Macron visited Rwanda. During the visit,  Emmanuel Macron said that  France bore overwhelming responsibilities  in 1990-1994 Rwandan civil war.  Falling short of fully admitting responsiblities, questions were raised on why the sudden visit to Rwandan dictator Paul Kagame, after more than 25 years of […]

After his decision to declare, from May 6, 2021, a state of siege in the provinces of Ituri and North Kivu, ravaged by galloping armed conflicts, the Congolese President, Félix Tshisekedi, published on May 4 2021 an ordinance appointing the military governors in charge of leading these two provinces. They are respectively Lieutenant-General Luboya Nkashama, for Ituri and […]

First published at usun.usmission.gov United States Mission to the United Nations Office of Press and Public Diplomacy For Immediate Release May 21, 2021 Readout of a Call Between Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield and Democratic Republic of the Congo President Felix Tshisekedi The below is attributable to U.S. Mission to the UN Spokesperson Olivia Dalton: U.S. Ambassador […]

Fisrt published at www.toplinenews.eu It is already 3 months after Joe Biden assumed the US president office after Donald Trump but experts are still going on in providing opinions on who among two presidents would be a better choice for the next 4 years of the USA. Considering Biden`s predecessor, Donald Trump, there is a […]

Dear reader,  This May 6, 2021, DESC now has eight years of existence as a strategic watch and analysis think tank on the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and its geopolitical area. This is an opportunity for all of its members to express our thanks for your loyalty, trust, and encouragement. Over time, DESC’s analyses […]

In his fight against armed groups in the Central African Republic, President Faustin-Archange Touadéra relies heavily on his alliance with Moscow, which sent an elite squad to Bangui to support him. In Bangui on 15 October, car hoods were adorned with two noticeable flags: one Russian, one the Central African Republic. The government of Faustin-Archange […]

First published at foreignpolicy.com If the Biden administration wants to advance democracy around the world, it needs to fix U.S. diplomacy first. The Biden administration has arrived with some grand promises for its foreign policy, among them to “rally the nations of the world to defend democracy globally” and “empower” U.S. diplomats who were “politicized” […]