Senator Evode: Tshisekedi ‘doesn’t want talks’ - only silencing will stop him, senator says

Kigali, 12 October 2025 - Senator Uwizeyimana Evode has accused Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) President Félix Antoine Tshisekedi of acting in bad faith on peace negotiations with the AFC/M23 rebel coalition, saying Tshisekedi gives every sign that he does not genuinely want dialogue and suggesting only force would make him stop. The senator made the remarks in an interview broadcast on Rwanda Television on the evening of Sunday, October 12, 2025.

Evode, a Rwandan senator, argued that Tshisekedi’s speeches at the EU-Africa Global Gateway Forum in Brussels and his address to the Congolese diaspora in Belgium demonstrate a public posture of peacemaking that, in Evode’s view, masks a refusal to implement key elements of negotiated settlements. “What he told Europeans - that he wants peace and reconciliation with Rwanda - is mere theater,” Evode said, adding that Tshisekedi’s words are intended to portray himself as not being the source of the problem.

Pointing to the Doha talks (Qatar-facilitated) and the Washington agreement (the U.S.-brokered package of commitments between Kinshasa and Kigali), Evode said Tshisekedi has repeatedly set red lines - notably his prior claim that he would never negotiate with the M23 - but has since reversed course in ways that, Evode contends, reveal a lack of sincerity. “During Doha he said he would never talk to M23; today there are talks, but it would not surprise us if there is no real will to implement them,” he said.

Evode framed the Doha and Washington accords as interlinked: the Doha process, he said, cannot be implemented successfully without full adherence to the Washington agreement. He accused Tshisekedi of selectively refusing provisions of the Washington deal and of obstructing measures that would neutralize armed groups and secure lasting peace in eastern DRC. “Implementing the Washington agreement would be as difficult as implementing Doha, because he has already begun rejecting parts of it,” the senator said.

In stark terms, Evode suggested Tshisekedi’s belligerent rhetoric could only be ended if the AFC/M23 acted to silence him. “He has a provocative attitude. I do not know what the AFC/M23 plan is, but he needs them to listen to him and shut him up because I see that as something that can be done,” Evode told Rwanda Television - a comment likely to inflame tensions and draw sharp criticism from Kinshasa.

Analysts say such statements reflect the deep mistrust between political actors in Kigali and Kinshasa as well as the fraught domestic politics surrounding the conflict. Whether inflammatory public comments by foreign officials or opposition figures help or hinder Doha- and Washington-led diplomacy is hotly contested; critics argue they undercut mediation and harden positions on both sides.