The situation at Goma airport is catastrophic: in the hands of M23, no aircraft can operate. Humanitarian aid cannot get through, no evacuation is possible. MR federal MP Michel De Maegd, who met today with the Congolese Minister of Foreign Affairs, Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner, is calling on Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot to act urgently.
The population of eastern Congo is experiencing a new tragedy since the invasion of Congolese territory by M23 and Rwandan troops.
“The humanitarian emergency is extremely serious. Belgium, together with other countries, must do everything to free Goma airport, currently in the hands of M23! Do everything to stop the jamming of GPS signals, which prevents aircraft from navigating in the region in breach of the Chicago Convention. The survival of hundreds of thousands of Congolese is at stake. Without this, neither humanitarian aid, nor medicines, nor evacuation are possible,” warns the federal MP.
Michel De Maegd, who in 1995, after the genocide of the Tutsis, spent several weeks in Rwanda and eastern Congo, is determined to draw attention to the systemic nature of the massacres currently being committed: mass graves, mass disappearances, executions.
“More than 3,000 deaths have officially been recorded to date, but this figure masks the thousands of victims reported missing, scattered in mass graves or whose bodies float on the waters of Lake Kivu.”
As the DRC's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner, told him during a meeting this Wednesday, 5 February, “the current methods of M23 and Rwanda are not those of 2012. These are methods similar to those of 1996-98, which are dragging the region into a very dark era.”
Despite the unilateral ceasefire declared by M23, these rebel troops (officially 4,000 Rwandan soldiers, unofficially thousands more) continue their advance on South Kivu, with Kinshasa in their sights.
The mandate of the MONUSCO soldiers still present on the ground must be urgently updated. It is unthinkable to send peacekeepers into a mission where they face the realities of war without being able to cope with them.
We must clearly remember M23's previous statements that it had “no intention of marching on the DRC”. In light of events, no credibility can be given to them, and their intentions are expressed very clearly by their leader, Corneille Nangaa.