Daniel Chapo Withdraws from the SADC Summit on the Congo Crisis

- Mozambique is Rwanda’s main ally in Southern Africa

By MOZTIMES

Maputo (MOZTIMES) – The Office of the President’s Communication Department released two statements on Wednesday afternoon.

The first announced that President Daniel Chapo would participate on Thursday in the Extraordinary Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in Harare to assess the security situation in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Hours later, a new statement appeared, saying that Chapo’s trip to Harare for the SADC Summit had been postponed, without providing reasons.

The SADC extraordinary summit was convened due to the escalation of violence in Goma province, involving the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC), supported by the SADC Mission in the DRC (SAMIDRC) and MONUSCO (United Nations Stabilisation Mission in the DRC), against the rebel group M23, backed by the Rwanda Defence Force (RDF).

South Africa, which leads the SAMIDRC, has so far lost 13 soldiers in combat against the M23 rebels, who are supported by Rwanda. Other regional contributors to the mission, such as Tanzania and Malawi, have also suffered casualties, although the numbers have not been disclosed.

The situation has heightened tensions between SADC countries and Rwanda, particularly with South Africa and Tanzania, whose relations with President Paul Kagame’s government were already strained. On their official X (formerly Twitter) accounts, Presidents Cyril Ramaphosa and Paul Kagame exchanged accusations on Wednesday.

https://twitter.com/paulkagame/status/1884711263327887849?s=46

The South African president was the first to post a statement reporting the killing of 13 South African soldiers and blaming the M23 rebels and the RDF for the attack. In the post, Ramaphosa referred to both the M23 and the RDF as militias. “The fighting is the result of an escalation by the rebel group M23 and Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) militia engaging the Armed Forces of the DRC (FARDC) and attacking peacekeepers from the SADC Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (SAMIDRC)”,Ramaphosa wrote.

On Wednesday evening, Paul Kagame responded to his South African counterpart’s post, calling him a liar and accusing him of distorting the facts.“What has been said (…) by South African officials and President Ramaphosa himself contains a lot of distortion, deliberate attacks, and even lies,” he wrote in a lengthy post, accusing the SAMIDRC of being an offensive mission supporting genocidal groups.

“SAMIDRC is not a peacekeeping force (…). It was authorised by SADC as a belligerent force engaging in offensive combat operations to help the DRC Government fight against its own people, working alongside genocidal armed groups (…) which target Rwanda, while also threatening to take the war to Rwanda itself,” added the Rwandan president.

In this context, Daniel Chapo decided to withdraw from the SADC extraordinary summit, at which Rwanda’s role in the conflict is expected to be strongly condemned.

Mozambique is currently one of Rwanda’s main allies in the SADC region, with around 4,000 RDF troops deployed in the northern province of Cabo Delgado, helping combat the jihadist insurgency in the gas-rich region.

President Chapo’s participation in the SADC extraordinary summit, which will specifically discuss Rwanda’s role, would have placed the Mozambican government in a dilemma. Endorsing the summit’s likely condemnation of Rwanda would mean confronting its main military ally. However, opposing such a decision could also irritate Mozambique’s biggest trade partner, South Africa, as well as its historic political ally, Tanzania. In light of these circumstances, President Chapo chose to stay in Maputo. (MT)

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