At the end of this piece, you will realise that not only did the authors fail at presenting and convincing the readers that these alleged crimes have really been committed by the M23 together with the RDF, but they have also created more doubts in their readers’ minds regarding their accusations.
{{Structure and content}}
The book is divided into seven (7) chapters, which cover different sections from MONUSCO’s acts that, the authors say, sabotaged the peace processes to, requesting the United Nations (UN) to lift sanctions on weapons purchase, and of course, to M23 and RDF’s alleged crimes.
First off, what do these three chapters have in common? Why do they appear in the same book whose aim is supposedly to document M23 and RDF crimes? Or better yet why are the M23 and the RDF being thrown in the same basket when M23 is an armed group based in the DRC while RDF is Rwanda’s military, and of course, based in Rwanda?
As insinuated above while reading this book, you start getting confused as to what exactly the book is supposed to cover because the authors did a good job at straying away from the main purpose of the book. They could argue that it was necessary to fit all those areas in one book as they are all connected but I beg to differ. They could have talked about the alleged M23/RDF crimes without bringing in the MONUSCO or discussing the weapons purchase issues. My theory is that they realised that if they only focused on this “Rwanda’s aggression”, the book would have worked against them.
Focusing on this “aggression” would have made their accusations seem ridiculous and unfounded to every reader who would have opened this livre blanc because, first, the proof they provide to these alleged crimes is utterly underwhelming.
{{Lack of irrefutable proof }}
For instance, they present satellite pictures with what resemble to be humanoids on a line walking in one direction and the caption reads that those are the RDF soldiers. Surprisingly, they expect their readers to believe them without doing their due diligence. How can anyone make this rookie mistake in this day and age?
The pictures could have been made up, these pictures could have been taken somewhere else, or these pictures could have been older than these alleged crimes. Literally, there are so many possibilities that no reader should believe these satellite pictures as proof of anything. Pictures look like the main proof that was used in this book.
That said, in the supporting role were the speech excerpts from Rwandan leaders such as President Paul Kagame himself.
Now, these speech excerpts are even worse than pictures because, in some cases, the words they shared were never said. Particularly, they refer to the Rwandan President’s speech on 23 June 2022 during CHOGM. The words the book quotes on page 17 were never said, a fact that can be verified using President Paul Kagame’s official website as well as his youtube channel, where the records of all his speeches are kept for everyone who might need to use them.
This is the kind of proof that the livre presents to support their claims. In other words, this book used misinformation and manipulated information from start to finish to make their accusations believable. Imagine having leaders and experts who are supposed to be fighting misinformation using false information instead. If this is an official document that was written for the international and educated audience, imagine what kind of false information DRC leaders are feeding their people on the local channels.
{{Personal analysis}}
As it has been the DRC leaders’ slogan these last few months, the authors conclude by asking for sanctions for Rwanda because of this ‘recognised’ aggression. Will Rwanda be sanctioned because of this book? No. No international court would rely on the information in this book to even form an opinion, let alone sanction a country.
In fact, everything in this book is hearsay. That said, this book is still dangerous because of many reasons, first, it can corrupt an informed reader. That alone can lead to crimes. The whole world has realized the power of words, every word you hear changes something in you. The more you hear the same repetitive words, you can start believing them. Everyone can be manipulated or programmed regardless of how smart they are or are not. That is the first danger of books that spread misinformation.
The second danger of this book is that it was used to advance DRC leaders totally messed up agenda, that of allowing Congolese civilians and armed groups to acquire more weapons. How can a country like the DRC with more than 130 armed groups and a record high of small arms and light weapons (SALW) request the UN to lift sanctions regarding weapons purchase? Sanctions that do not even apply to the official DRC military as explained by Jean-Michel Dumont who is the MONUSCO Political Affairs Officer.
In his own words, “There is no embargo on the arms DRC would like to purchase. DRC can buy all the weapons it wants, as long as the weapons are intended for the regular Forces.” So then, why would DRC leaders need that ban lifted? That simply does not make sense. Congolese people who want a safe country keep talking about the Disarmament – Demobilisation – Reintegration (DDR) programs and at the same time, their leaders want more weapons in the country.
{{Takeaway}}
It has been established that this book, just like DRC leaders’ speeches, is full of false information and will be/has been misleading to an informed leader. In this digital age where the fight against misinformation gets more nuanced every day, leaders and experts should help in that fight, not work against it.
There is no doubt a lot of atrocities have been committed on the DRC soil, but their authorities need to be better at finding out who committed which crimes, and in case they do not know, have the humility to tell their citizens that they do not know.
This honesty will create trust between the government and the people, which will then allow them to come together and work towards filling the gaps they might have in their institutions.
This goes without saying, DRC is a big country, with a complex history, and no one will blame leaders for past failures. Instead of assigning crimes to imaginary authors, they can, for instance, start by holding accountable the criminals that walk free in the DRC, and in some instances, hold leadership positions.
As it has been said over and over again, Rwanda and DRC will always be neighbors, so instead of fighting, why can’t they work together? Of course, working together might not be ideal for many because of the shared history, but that would provide a durable solution to the insecurity in Eastern DRC.
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