Reminiscent of pre-1994 Rwanda, Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi has called for the formation of para-military youth groups to commit genocide against Kinyarwanda speaking Congolese and cause chaos in the country so as to force a postponement of the upcoming December 2023 general elections.

 

 Clearly, Tshisekedi will stop at nothing to rule the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) forever, even if it means sacrificing millions of Congolese.

 

It is believed that the Congolese army has more than 150,000 personnel where the number of police officers is bigger than the number of the military personnel. The DRC is also home to a 20,000 strong UN peacekeeping force with personnel from around 50 countries. The East African Community force is also deploying. Why then would Tshisekedi mobilise citizens ostensibly to maintain peace in the east of DRC?

 

Worrisome video footage from Goma and Kinshasa show hundreds of young people undergoing paramilitary training under the supervision of the military personnel. These are the same youth who attacked UN facilities, killed peacekeepers and looted shops of  Kinyarwanda  speaking Congolese.  

 

Although the war between the M23 rebels and FARDC is happening in the territory of Rutshuru,Tshisekedi has mobilized the youth from the entire country.

 

Evidently, this war is beyond being just a war against M23 rebels.

 

The youth enrolled in the newly created militia are the ones behind  demonstrations in different cities, where individuals identified as Rwandans or specifically Tutsi have been killed by rowdy mobs. Some individuals were even cannibalised. Filmed scenes demonstrate horrific images.

 

Homes, businesses and other properties belonging to, or used by persons identified as Rwandans or simply Tutsi have been attacked, vandalised or looted.

 

A country’s long-term stability requires a strong central government and competent national security forces that can deliver services and establish order. Militia groups only undermine the authority of the central government by creating competing power centers. Tshisekedi who doesn’t control his country appeals to militia to spread chaos so that he can continue to lead the country without elections.

 

In a country like DRC where genocide ideology has spread for 28 years, the official establishment of militias is alarming. The international community has to act before it is too late.

 

Sources indicate that UDPS, the party of Tshisekedi, has set up a commission to plan how to make DRC ungovernable. The intention is to have a transition in 2023 so that Tshisekedi can continue to lead in transition.

 

Tshisekedi hopes that he will have time to impose his influence on the Electoral Commission and in the security forces where many Generals still believe in former President Joseph Kabila as the real President. The use of militia by Tshisekedi is based on self-interest not the state’s interests and, a weak central government is an important precondition for militia.

 

So far, the UN has documented many cases of hate speech and incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence. Hate speech has been spread, among others, by political party figures, community leaders, civil society actors, and members of the Congolese diaspora.

 

On October 29, a shocking video was posted on social media where, elected MP Moise Nyarugabo  from the Banyamulenge community was told by Congolese Speaker of the Parliament Christophe Mboso N'Kodia Pwanga to shut up and go back to his home country when he intervened and pleaded over the budget allocated to his native District of Uvira.

 

“I take the floor away from you! Go out and go home,” Mboso shouted.

 

Background of genocide ideology in DRC

 

Anti-Tutsi hate messages and conspiracy theories are regularly shared on Congolese social media platforms during times of crisis between the national army and M23 rebels.

 

The absence of rule of law in DRC and the lack of a strong government structures facilitated the spread of genocide ideology by Rwandan genocidal forces, the FDLR.

 

When the Interahamwe and Ex-FAR arrived in North and South Kivu, in 1994, they brought with them the notion that the “solution” to the many complex problems of the region lay in killing all the Tutsi. The Interahamwe convinced Congolese Hutu and other communities of this and they succeed in North Kivu.

 

The Congolese Hutu community had already linked up with Juvenal Habyarimana’s government through an agriculture cooperative called MAGRIVI (Farmers Movement of Virunga).

 

The MAGRIVI had worked hard at spreading hatred against the Tutsi. Interahamwe and Ex-FAR told the Congolese Hutu and the other North Kivu ethnic groups that the Tutsi had seized power in Rwanda and planned to control the entire Kivu region.

 

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

 

The arrival of Interahamwe in 1994 was the detonator, but there had been tensions for some time. Habyarimana who had close ties with Mobutu, spread, everywhere, the idea that the Tutsi are domineering. Interahamwe were welcomed in the Kivus by Congolese authorities.

 

Upon arrival, these Rwandan genocidal forces found a country where there were no proper laws nor a functioning government. The Tutsi felt powerless to resist the anti-Tutsi sentiment that had become widespread in South Kivu and North Kivu regions. They had no choice but to flee to Burundi and Rwanda. They were attacked in their host countries and hundreds of Tutsi were killed in Gatuma refugee camp in Burundi and in Mudende refugee camp in Rwanda.

 

The genocidaires sought, above all, to awaken and mobilise the Congolese Hutu regarded as their natural allies through family links, ethnic solidarity and cultural ties. The 1994 refugees arrived after a series of bloody clashes between the Hutu and Hunde communities. Interahamwe offered Congolese Hutu weapons, manpower and training facilities.

 

The Interahamwe resumed the campaign they had led in Rwanda and depicted the Tutsi as arrogant, merciless, rootless foreigners who planned monarchy in Rwanda and were behind the DRC balkanization project.

 

Interahamwe did not let the absence of MAGRIVI, or Congolese Hutu, deter them in South Kivu. Habyarimana’s officials in the Rwandese Prefecture of Cyangugu which borders Bukavu and nears Uvira, had worked closely with their Congolese counterparts ever since the RPF invasion from Uganda in October 1990. Determined to stem the flow of young Tutsi men to join RPF, they characterized the RPF invasion as a threat to each and every “Bantu”.

 

When the Interahamwe came to South Kivu, they were helped by the presence of the Burundians. There was a big number of Burundian CNDD-FDD in the area, with a similar ideology as well as the existence of a large number of Burundian Hutu refugees.

 

This genocide ideology will only be eradicated once the Tutsi Congolese who speak Kinyarwanda are considered as Congolese citizens and the collaboration between FARDC and FDLR ceases to exist and the genocidal militia are fully repatriated to Rwanda.