A force of evil

The armed forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC) are operating with the FDLR militia in fighting against the M23 rebellion that now occupies swathes of territory in areas such as Rutshuru and Bunagana.

Such revelations are not news to those in the know. There have been collaborations between the Congolese army and the FDLR in the past.  Their collaboration has been “on and off, depending on internal Congolese political dynamics.

The October 18 report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) cited one FDLR fighter confirming that: “It’s the government [troops] that would always provide us with ammunition. They also gave us uniforms and boots.”

“With its record of extreme violence against civilians, the FDLR too remains a major source of instability and conflict. While some FDLR members have been through a demobilization program and have been repatriated to Rwanda, many others continue their operations in eastern DRC and show no sign of returning to their country. The FDLR retains the capacity to inflict huge suffering on the Congolese population,” reads part of HRW’s June 2011 report.

The FDLR is a genocidal terror group formed by remnants of the perpetrators of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

By collaborating with the genocidal militia, FARDC commanders are only worsening an already bad situation. Congolese commanders are arming the militia that, in turn, will massively murder Congolese civilians.

“FDLR fighters have killed hundreds of civilians over the years in eastern DRC, at times hacked them to death with machetes or hoes or burned them in their homes. The fighters have committed countless rapes and other acts of sexual violence,” HRW reported in October 2018.

The FDLR is plundering resources in areas it occupies to better equip itself with heavy weapons, so as to attack Rwanda.

The ongoing massacres of Rwandophones, or Kinyarwanda-speaking Congolese, is a result of the genocide ideology which the FDLR have spread throughout the country since 1994. Anti-Tutsi hate messages and conspiracy theories are regularly shared on Congolese social media platforms during times of crisis between the national army and the M23 rebels.

Today, thanks to the Genocide ideology, any internal conflict in DRC is attributed to the presence of the Tutsi in the region.

Upon arrival in eastern Zaire, now DRC, in 1994, the masterminds of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda found a country where there were neither proper laws nor a functioning government. The helpless Congolese Tutsi felt powerless to resist the anti-Tutsi sentiment that had become widespread in South Kivu and North Kivu Provinces. Many had no choice but to flee to Burundi and Rwanda.

The genocidaires sought, above all, to awaken and mobilize the Congolese Hutu who they regarded as their natural allies; through family links, ethnic solidarity and cultural ties.

The Interahamwe offered Congolese Hutu weapons, manpower and training facilities. In the DRC, the Interahamwe reinvigorated the murderous campaign they had initiated in Rwanda. They depicted the Tutsi as arrogant, merciless, rootless foreigners who planned monarchy in Rwanda and were behind the so-called balkanization of the DRC project.

The FDLR is a force of evil that will never be in for collaboration in restoring peace and security. Genocidaires and terrorists see no interests in saving civilians. The militia’s alliance with the Congolese army only spells disaster.