Regional
Charles Onana: DRC’s media mercenary for hire embarks on sinister mission
As the
security crisis in eastern DRC deteriorates, Kinshasa is focused on launching a
media campaign against the M23 rebels, who are fighting against government
forces, branding them as terrorists.
The
Congolese government has repeatedly announced that it will not talk to or
negotiate with the M23 rebels. The rebels are fighting for their survival and
protection of the Congolese Tutsi community.
To
tarnish the rebels and the Congolese Tutsi community, Kinshasa decided to hire
Charles Onana, a self-styled Cameroonian journalist well known for denying the
1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. Onana is on a mission to spread hate
propaganda against the Congolese Tutsi, Rwanda, and the M23 rebels.
At the
official invitation of Patrick Muyaya, the DRC Government Spokesperson as well
as Minister of Communication and Media, Onana was invited to hold conferences
in universities across Kinshasa, from March 14 to 20, and to do media
interviews and appearances.
As
expected, Onana was quick to advance Kinshasa’s claims that Rwanda is
supporting the M23 rebels, a claim that Kigali has repeatedly denied, adding
that negotiating with the rebels will simply be negotiating with Rwanda, which
would be a mistake.
In one
of his media interviews, Onana urged the Congolese to unify and expel those who
threaten their nation, meaning all the Congolese Tutsi, and M23 rebels.
Onana
thrives on open racism targeting one ethnic group - the Tutsi and repeatedly
paints the Tutsi as evil and says that they are responsible for all the problems
in the region. His analysis comes in form of disgraceful distortions and
falsification of the history of Rwanda and the region.
In
April 2023, Onana published a book alleging that since 1994, militias and
troops of Rwanda supported by the United States and France invaded the DRC. He
claimed that there have been 10 million deaths in DRC, 500,000 women raped and
110, 000 square kilometers of devastated forests.
Onana
attributed all these crimes committed in DRC to the Banyamulenge, an ethnic
Tutsi community in South Kivu, and their alleged Rwandan supporters. He then
accused the Banyamulenge of being behind a plot aimed at destroying DRC. Onana
is on a mission of spreading anti-Tutsi hate with a sinister delight in the
DRC, the Great Lakes region and Africa.
But,
perhaps, what’s more troubling is why Kinshasa would hire such an individual,
who clearly threatens the peace and safety of their own people.
The
Congolese government has adamantly refused to acknowledge that
Kinyarwanda-speaking Congolese are legitimate citizens, and Congolese
authorities watch idly as these people are persecuted, killed and harassed
daily, which is what led to the M23 rebels taking up arms to defend their
community.
Kinshasa
is hiring people like Onana to fuel more hate against this community, without
caring about the harm done on this community, just for the sake of pursuing an
anti-Rwanda agenda.