President Félix Tshisekedi has been requesting military support from his counterpart, President Mahamat Idriss Déby of Chad, to fight the M23 armed group, which has made significant advances in the east, capturing strategic areas including the cities of Bukavu and Goma.
Takilal Ndolassem, a prominent politician who leads the opposition party Front Populaire pour la Libération (FPL), stated that just because Chad has good relations with the DRC, it does not mean it should send its soldiers to die in a foreign war.
Ndolassem reminded President Mahamat that the DRC has a large population, and it should be training its own soldiers to protect the country instead of asking Chadâ€"a country with fewer than 30 million peopleâ€"to send troops.
He said, 'It is inappropriate to send Chadians to die in the DRC. It is not possible, Mr. President, because we are a small population on land covering 1,284,000 square kilometres. Yet, in Kinshasa, there are 20 million people, and in all of Congo, 140 million. Why should we send our people to die there?'
The politician explained that the Chadian government has also faced armed groups for many years but has never asked the international community to send troops to help fight them.
He urged President Mahamat to avoid taking sides and to support peaceful resolutions made by African heads of state, which include calls for dialogue between the DRC government and M23.
Human rights advocate, Dr. Ibrahim Mahamat Ali, reminded that in 1998, Chad sent troops to the DRC to assist Laurent-Désiré Kabila, who was fighting the armed group RCD.
He said, 'We don't want history to repeat itself. Today, it is necessary for Chad and other countries to avoid sending troops and instead rely on diplomacy to resolve the conflict. It is time for this to stop!'
Dr. Ibrahim emphasised that Chad is not a military reserve ready to go abroad whenever asked, highlighting that the DRC should have built its own military forces long ago.
He said, "The Congolese should have focused on strengthening their army long ago instead of focusing on fashion."
Citing Chad's involvement in Mali, focused on counterterrorism efforts, Dr. Ibrahim said the situation in eastern Congo is "very different."
"Our intervention in Mali was to protect a people from a terrorist threat. It was a righteous cause. The situation in DRC is very different. Let's not put our soldiers on the line to defend a leader who seeks to stay in power," he stated.
He stressed that in Congo, M23 rebels enjoy support from the population they seek to protect from persecution and marginalisation targeted at Kinyarwanda-speaking Congolese.
"We all witnessed the enthusiasm of the people as the M23 arrived in the region under control," he remarked.
The DRC's military is already cooperating with those of Burundi, the FDLR, and the Wazalendo militias in the war.
Other groups present in the DRC include troops from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the United Nations peacekeeping force (MONUSCO). Meanwhile, nearly 300 European mercenaries who had been fighting alongside the Congolese army were recently forced to withdraw after the fall of Goma to the M23 rebels.
IGIHE
Source : https://en.igihe.com/news/article/chadians-challenge-proposal-to-send-troops-to-drc
