The Six-Day War of 1967, also known as the Third Arab-Israeli War, was a brief but transformative conflict between Israel and its neighboring Arab states: Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. It lasted from June 5th to June 10th, 1967 and reshaped the political and territorial dynamics of the Middle East.
Egypt’s President Nasser had been bolstering Arab unity against Israel, with support from Syria and Jordan. In May 1967, Nasser ordered the withdrawal of United Nations peacekeeping forces from the Sinai Peninsula and closed the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping, a move Israel considered an act of war. Fearing a coordinated attack by its neighbors, Israel launched a preemptive strike to neutralize the imminent threat.
As a result, Israel’s territorial control expanded significantly, capturing the Sinai Peninsula and Gaza Strip from Egypt, the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan, and the Golan Heights from Syria. The war has never ended since then. The International community was not even helpful till today, despite the multitude of UN resolutions and other sanctions.
Recently in December 2024, The DRC president travelled in the region especially in Burundi to sensitise and mobilize for his awful cause, based on ethnicity and hatred. Foreign armies and European mercenaries started pouring into North Kivu with a hidden agenda. He fueled his population with anger, jealousy and hatred against Rwanda. All observers and the so-called experts kept silent. The true conflict roots were just ignored. Instead, misinformation was spread about an hypothetical minerals fraud as if it’s a sufficient reason for two brother countries to fight.
The DRC problem is simply about nationalities. Who is or is not congolese? This poison made its way into the citizens’ brains and their leaders from the 1960s till now. Despite thousands of Congolese benefiting from EU citizenship, including their current president, they have never been able to advise their own compatriots about tolerance and acceptance of others.
The same causes generating the same effects, the poor leadership in DRC has brought the country in a dire situation. Tshikesedi himself bears the full responsibility because of his weak governance, economic mismanagement, divisive leadership, and lack of accountability with serious consequences such as prolonged conflict (Wazalendo, FDLR and 250 militia), poverty and inequality (his family has taken control of DRC economy while the wealth gap widens as the majority remain impoverished despite the country’s resources).
Time has come for DRC and Burundi Citizens to be fed with food not ideology, to claim a better education and health systems than following a lost cause and childish dreams to attack Rwanda. It won’t solve their problems. Ethnicity as an ideology should not be tolerated at all, by all citizens and world leaders. It will never be the solution to the many challenges awaiting Africa in this century.
The International Community never solved the Middle East issues for more than 7 decades. Chances for them to solve our Great Lakes region problems are simply non-existent. Only serious leaders (not pastors or pizza drivers) and conscientious citizens from the region can make it.