Kinshasa ties regional integration to Rwanda’s withdrawal
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Beto
Congolese Regional Integration Minister Floribert Anzuluni Isiloketshi called on the COMESA summit in Harare to make the withdrawal of Rwandan troops from eastern DR Congo a priority. Kinshasa links insecurity, forced displacement and the plundering of resources to the obstruction of regional integration, according to Beto.
At the COMESA summit in Harare, the Congolese Minister for Regional Integration, Floribert Anzuluni Isiloketshi, linked the success of economic integration to improved security in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He called on member states to give the crisis particular attention, according to Beto.
Floribert Anzuluni, representing President Félix Tshisekedi at the 25th summit, denounced abuses against civilians, forced displacement, the establishment of parallel administrations and the looting of natural resources, which Kinshasa attributes to Rwanda. He called for the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 2773 and the Washington peace agreement, including the withdrawal of Rwandan troops from Congolese territory.
Adopted unanimously in February 2025, Resolution 2773 calls on the AFC/M23 to cease hostilities and withdraw from areas under its control. It also calls on the Rwanda Defence Force to end its support for the movement and leave the DRC unconditionally, as well as to neutralise the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR). Anzuluni outlined Kinshasa’s efforts on the disarmament and repatriation of the FDLR, including initiatives in Lomé, Luanda, Bujumbura and Dar es Salaam.
The minister also advocated processing African resources locally. On 16 October in Lusaka, defence ministers from the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region had called for concrete action to disarm armed groups. Anzuluni’s efforts on the FDLR were outlined on 2 October in a previous report.
