Your Excellency,

 

The President of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

 

I hope this letter finds you well. I am writing to inform you with much concern that what is happening in the eastern part of your country is traumatizing to many of us, and shocking to right thinking world citizens.

 

After the resumption of hostilities between your army (FARDC) and the M23 rebels, your government officials and security organs mobilized the population to hold machetes and kill Congolese Tutsi and Rwandophones.  We have seen gruesome pictures of people wielding machetes. We have seen mutilated dead bodies of the Tutsi killed, while other pictures showed the Tutsi being tortured with their arms tied behind their backs!

 

Mr. President, I wish to remind you that killing innocent people because they were born Tutsi is a crime against humanity punishable under International law. It’s equally a crime against God, who created all human being equal. The Tutsi have a right to life, the same as you do.

 

There is a chronic disease that occurs every election year in your country, when Rwanda and Kagame become the scapegoats for DRC's governance problems. Rwandophones and Tutsi Congolese are harassed and killed as if they have no legitimate right to live in their own country. Recently, a senior FARDC officer, Colonel Ndayisaba was killed in Walikale, which is not a war zone, simply because he was a Tutsi.  Lt. Col. Bageni the deputy Commander of FARDC’s 3305^th regiment was attacked by a mob in Kisangani simply because he is a Tutsi. Many more others were rounded up and tortured.  

 

You have denied the Tutsi in DRC the right to liberty and security contrary to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).  Article 3 of the UDHR states that: “Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person,” while Article 9 adds that “No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.” Mr. President, when your tenure is over, the gross violations of Tutsi rights taking place and likely to unfold into a genocide against the Tutsi, will be part of your legacy. I wonder whether this will make you proud.   

 

You know very well that the Mulenge area and North Kivu areas inhabited by many Tutsi are part of DRC. Disowning and killing your own people, shifting blame to others without resolving the root causes of your country’s problems, does not help to end  insecurity in easterner DRC.

 

Mr. President, most alarming and traumatizing, is the fact that you have allowed FDLR, a group that is responsible for the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, to form a coalition with your national army, FARDC, and they are killing Congolese Tutsi and Rwandophones, with the promise of support to FDLR to go back to Rwanda and complete the genocide against the Tutsi. Rwandans, especially genocide survivors, are traumatized by this evil alliance next door. I wonder whether you are aware of this or you are deceived by your field commanders.

 

 The FDLR have trained Congolese people on hate speech and using machetes as a tool to exterminate Congolese Tutsi. This is a replica of the methods used in 1994 to commit the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. The UN designated the FDLR as a terrorist group and it is astonishing to see that a national army works closely with them. This again is a violation of international law, and good neighborliness.

 

Mr. President, you may be aware that on June 18, 2019; the UN Secretary-General launched a Strategic Action Plan against Hate Speech and had this to say. “Hate speech is in itself an attack on tolerance, inclusion, diversity and the very essence of our human rights norms and principles. More broadly, it undermines social cohesion, erodes shared values, and can lay the foundation for violence, setting back the cause of peace, stability, sustainable development, and the fulfillment of human rights for all.”

 

It is therefore, against UN principles to allow hate speech by your government officials, security organs and ordinary citizens. As the Head of State, you have all the powers and means to end this inhuman act as soon as possible before genocide is committed.

 

FDLR is supposed to be disarmed and extradited to Rwanda to face charges on genocide crimes. Mr. President, when all this happens under your watch, you are held accountable as an accomplice to the agenda of genocide against the Tutsi. What you should know is that no one works with genocidaires and end well. You had started well as a progressive President. You should also end well without being blinded by the myopic politics of shedding innocent blood to gain votes.

 

I will not say much about the M23 as this is an internal problem faced by your government.  The only connection between M23 with Rwanda is that they speak the same language, and part of their group sought refugee in Rwanda. The group was disarmed and settled in a camp in eastern Rwanda far away from the DRC border, as required by international law. This does not in any way mean that Rwanda lenders them support.

 

It is also not understandable how, in 2019, the DRC government signed an agreement with M23 faction regarding their voluntary repatriation, with the facilitation of Rwanda, and three years down the road with the unfulfilled agreement, you change and call them a terrorist group.  M23 is a mountain that you should be ready to climb and overcome. They are your people who have a legitimate right to their country and should not be closed out of the Nairobi peace dialogue and other efforts to pacify Eastern DRC.

 

Lastly, but not least, I want to bring to your attention that suspending RwandaAir flights from Kinshasa was a big mistake because it eased travel for the Congolese people rather than a business venture for Rwanda. There are several other destinations globally that RwandaAir can fly to make more profit. This was a win-win initiative. Supposing Rwanda retaliated by closing Rubavu and Rusizi borders, where would your people in Goma and Bukavu get food and other essential supplies from? Think about it.  

 

The M23 is just one of more than 130 other armed militia operating in eastern DRC. Rebel groups have existed in this region since the 1960s, when Kagame was a small child.  Invoking his name as the cause of insecurity in DRC, is denying to carry your own cross.

 

Disown the FDLR, a known genocidal terror group, as their alliance with your army is criminal and a breach of international law.  The FDLR’s hands are dripping with the blood of innocent victims and no person ever associated with them and had a good ending.

 

Mr. President, I call upon you to own your problems and solve them without burying your head in the sand. Bombing Rwandan territory will not help to restore peace, as that is displaced hostility. The good news is that you have signed your country as the newest member of the East African Community. I have confidence in the East African Regional force as capable of dealing with eastern DRC’s insecurity. MONUSCO can pack their bags and leave because they betrayed their mandate by collaborating with the very armed groups they are meant to fight.  

  

Mr. President, let me hope that my message will allow you to make a self-reflection and consider what legacy you want to leave.

 

Sincerely,

Matia Mulumba

Concerned Great Lakes Region citizen.

 

CC:

UN Secretary General

Chairperson of the African Union

Chairperson of the East African Community Summit

Secretary General the East African Community

European Union

US Congress

Martin Fuyulu