The Kinshasa Cancer Tumor
Paul Kagame is known to often ridicules the occupants of the Palais de la Nation. Regrettably, there is a kernel of truth in his criticism. This is not because Kagame himself holds any moral superiority. Instead, it is because the Congolese people themselves have shown their frustration. They have expressed dissatisfaction with their leadership’s incompetence for years.
Since the days of Mobutu Sese Seko—who was installed and maintained through Western manipulation—those in power have often lacked legitimacy rooted in the democratic will of the Congolese people. The presidency and key institutions in Kinshasa have repeatedly been shaped by external forces and self-serving elites, not by the genuine aspirations of the Congolese masses.
This externally engineered chaos has ensured that true agents of liberation are extinguished. Instead, the West has supported military Machiavellians. They have propped up NGO proxies, multinational corporate puppets, ethnocrats, and religious demagogues. Their goal is to frustrate any momentum toward a sovereign, people-centered regime. Like a body battling leukemia, no part of the Congolese polity has been left unharmed by this corrosive interference. Leadership devoid of a mandate from the people owes no loyalty to them—only to those who guarantee its survival.
The result is tragically predictable. Conflict and suffering persist. Yet, much of the Congolese elite continues to indulge in opulence. They remain detached from the real struggles of their people. It should be clear to all. Congolese, Africans, and allies of justice worldwide must recognize that liberation from these parasitic structures remains as urgent now. It is as crucial as it was during the struggle against Belgian colonialism.
Nkrumah was right
In a display of political theater, President Paul Kagame lambasted his East African Community counterparts in a virtual meeting. He publicly denied Rwanda’s involvement in the DRC conflict. He also denied modeling the M23 rebel movement and meddling with DRC internal affairs. Kagame’s calculus was precise: he anticipated no serious consequences from his East African neighbors. European powers began issuing statements. They also made veiled threats, as they are well accustomed to. Only then did Kigali shift mode to attentive one. Kagame mobilized domestic mass support under the banner of ‘Kufunga Mukanda’ (tightening belts), portraying Rwanda as a sovereign under siege.
The summoning of Presidents Kagame and Tshisekedi to Qatar was revealing. Two African heads of state had to justify their positions to foreign monarchy. This unprecedented condition demonstrates who truly holds the saddle in the region. Whatever vows or denunciations they earlier made were rendered moot as they sought favor in Doha. The two leaders had a cordial relationship before. Yet, they sparred publicly with insults and diplomatic jabs after their fallout. By early 2025, events in Eastern Congo suggested that only Kagame understood the full scope of geopolitical maneuvering. That he was well aware of the ongoing of both Urugwiro village and Palais de la Nation.
This spectacle has exposed the hollowness of the popular phrase “African solutions to African problems.” In the Congolese tragedy, too many African rulers are not part of the solution, but part of the problem. Some have been directly implicated in the illicit exploitation of Congo’s resources, arms trafficking, and destabilization efforts. Even those presenting themselves as mediators often carry the stench of complicity.
Despite high-sounding communiques, neither the East African Community (EAC) nor the Southern African Development Community (SADC) has produced meaningful solutions. M23 rebels continue to act with impunity. Tshisekedi by de facto a persona non grata in the Eastern Congo. Rwandan and Ugandan troops stay on Congolese soil. Rebel groups like the Rwandan FDLR bandits stay armed, active, and unrepentant. So do the Mayi-Mayi, ADF, and LRA, among many others.
In response, Tshisekedi has fully aligned with the United States, surrendering vast control in a desperate bid for security. He first appealed to EAC and SADC, to no avail apart from symbolic diplomacy. Now, under U.S. tutelage, the Congolese state is yet to compromised its sovereignty.
For many African states—themselves weakened by neo-Bantustan politics and dependent on Western patronage—this arrangement is acceptable. The prospect of scraps from American monopolies is preferable than risking Washington’s wrath. Behind performative pan-African rhetoric lies an opportunistic embrace of foreign control. While leaders preach sovereignty, their economic dreams hinge on listings in New York, Shanghai, or London stock markets.
This reversal of Nkrumah’s dream is stark. Despite the DRC’s dismal 180th place in the 2022 Human Development Index, the Congolese ruling class is still hibernating unmoved. The people suffer; the elite profits. Nkrumah’s seek ye first the political kingdom, and all shall be added unto thee urge, been degenerated to seek ye the first American favors and all shall be added unto thy.
The Illusive African Solutions Backdrop
President Museveni once lamented how NATO sabotaged African efforts to resolve the 2011 Libyan crisis. It’s reasonable to assess that the African-led initiative in Libya might not have been successful. This conclusion does not extend clemency to the NATO maniacs. Although it was strangled at its infancy, success was not guaranteed. The DRC crisis reveals a failure of an African-led initiative. This is not due to Western interference alone. It is due to the political inadequacy and fragmentation of African states themselves. These states compose the AU Peace and Security Commission an entity that is heavily dependent on the EU for financing. The EU comprises majority NATO members.
Africa’s engagement is often unified in rhetoric but deeply fragmented in material interests. In practice, our “allies” are those we publicly denounce. This contradiction is best illustrated by the Economic Partnership Agreements(EPA) between East African states and the European Union. In these agreements, collective backstabbing was masked by empty unity.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, centre, hosts Congolese Foreign Minister Therese Kayikwamba Wagner, right, and Rwandan Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe for the signing of a peace agreement [Mandel Ngan/AFP]
The June 2025 U.S.-Qatar brokered agreement came at a time when Kinshasa was politically depleted. Its language around “peaceful dispute resolution,” “territorial integrity,” and “economic coordination” is vague at best. It offers little historical analysis and no tangible mechanisms for justice or enforcement.
History is fairly instructive. The DRC and Rwanda have conducted joint operations before. These include Operation Umoja Wetu in 2009 as well as Operation Kimya I&II. All these joint operations aimed to disarm the notorious FDLR. SADC have had SAMIDRC mission. Uganda conducts military operations against the ADF and LRA in DRC as of today, East African Community have had the East African Regional Force mission(EACRF). There are also the ‘everlasting’ UN missions, the largest missions second to none, and they have been there from the days of Lumumba. Rwanda even held sway over Congo’s military and intelligence apparatus in the post-Mobutu era. What, then, is new about this agreement?
The Congolese people see through the charade. They have witnessed the failure of countless interventions—the Lusaka Accords (1999), the Sun City Agreement, the Luanda and Nairobi Processes. Each has collapsed under the weight of external meddling and internal sabotage. The trauma of 120 years since the days of hooligan King Leopold II cannot be resolved through vague accords. Over six million have died in the last three decades. Millions more have been displaced. Fictitious imperialist-led diplomacy will not solve these issues.
All about what is beneath, on, and over Congolese soil
At the heart of Congo’s plight is a brutal calculus: its immense natural wealth. The DRC holds 10% of global copper and 70% of cobalt and coltan(tantalum). It also has 30% of diamonds and vast reserves of gold, tin, tungsten, and rare earths. The DRC is a geopolitical prize. Its estimated resource value exceeds $24 trillion. In many ways, the future of human civilization depends on Congolese soil.
Luwowo Coltan mine near Rubaya, North Kivu the 18th of March 2014. © MONUSCO/Sylvain Liechti
This reality dictates the behavior of Congo’s neighbors and global powers. Kenya and Rwanda, the major Qatar African partners, are heavily blamed for involvement in illicit mineral flows. President Kagame even admitted these allegations. He stated that the minerals are not bound for Kigali. Instead, they are destined for Tel Aviv, Delhi, Moscow, and Dubai. What if these minerals were arms that intended to harm Kigali? Would Kigali stay safe passage?
The entry of Kenyan Equity Bank—now the DRC’s second-largest bank with $2.5 billion in assets—coincided suspiciously with EACRF deployment in 2022. Qatar, a close U.S. ally and host of the massive Al Udeid base, has strategic motivations that go far beyond peace.
The Washington Peace Accord of July 27, 2025, effectively forces the DRC to relinquish control over its destiny. This is in exchange for a fragile and superficial peace. Without enforcement guarantees, the deal risks becoming another tool for American corporate expansion. It could lead to regional destabilization under the guise of “security cooperation.”
Weep Not, Congo
The Congolese people have endured enough. Patrice Lumumba envisioned a future where Africans wrote their own history. That history is not meant to be the tale of anguish, plunder and humiliation. Instead, the history of dignity and prosperity. Congo’s enemies are many. However, the most enduring foe is the global economic system that reduces Congo to a resource appendage.
This does not mean we ignore internal contradictions. The DRC, like all African states, is stratified. Its working-people class the vast majority—bears the brunt of all this exploitation. It is incumbent upon this class to mobilize, organize, and build people’s-centered forces from grassroots level and mesh-up all the way to the national level, to challenge and eventually to reconfigure the status quo.
This will not be easy. But it is necessary. The alternative is continued degradation, people’s organizations must chart a clear and revolutionary path forward. In this struggle, despair is betrayal.
Dignity or Servitude
The hour is late, but not too late. The Congolese people—and all Africans who see their reflection in Congo’s agony—must choose: dignity or servitude. From Butembo to Maniema the destruction is so vivid. Congolese should not continue pay this unbearable price only to make America great again.
This commentary was first published at Sauti ya Ujamaa by an Author Muhemsi Mwakihwelo