Rwanda-DRC tensions complicate the Nairobi peace talks for the Great Lakes - Peace is unlikely while Rwanda continues to back the M23 militia group that is responsible for much violence across the region
has been at the centre of violent conflict driven by both internal and external armed militia. This has resulted in more than six million people dead and about two million displaced as internally displaced persons in the DRC or as refugees in neighbouring countries.
Rwanda has historically used this rebel group as a proxy militia. This militia functions as a border buffer against attacks from remnants of the former Hutu rebels called the Interahamwe domiciled in the Great Lakes region. These former Hutu rebels were the leaders of the genocidal death squads of the Interahamwe that fled into the DRC when the Tutsi-led Rwanda Patriotic Front swept to power in 1994 ending months of genocidal killing.
The path to fruitful peace talks in Nairobi over the Great Lakes region in the DRC lies in a regional effort from all DRC’s neighbours, to encourage Rwanda to rein in the recalcitrant M23 rebel militia. This will pave way for the M23 militia laying down their weapons as the DRC government in Kinshasa is too weak to crush them militarily.