Regional
Congolese Rwandophones and their land are two sides of same coin – says scholar
Thousands
of Congolese refugees at Kigeme Refugee Camp in Nyamagabe district protested
against the genocidal violence committed against Congolese Tutsi in eastern DR
Congo. The protest took place on Monday, December 12, 2022.
Rwandan
scholar, Prof. Jean-Pierre Karegeye, was recently interviewed by French media
outlet TV5Monde about the borders between the DR Congo and Rwanda in the
context of President Kagame's press conference in Benin. Karegeye reverted to
the Berlin Conference, the persecution of Rwandophones in DR Congo, and the
issue of citizenship. In the same interaction, a Congolese scholar, Prof. Bob
Kabamba, responded to the same questions. TV5Monde's website published selected
cross-reading excerpts from both scholars' interviews conducted by Christian
Eboulé. The New Times brings you the full transcript of the interview with Dr.
Karegeye.
During
a press conference held at the presidential palace in Benin on his visit to
that country, Rwandan President Paul Kagame declared, among other things, that
“a part of Rwanda was given to Congo and Uganda.” What is your view of the
Congolese authorities' very strong reaction to President Kagame's statement?
First,
let us note that in the Congolese collective imagination, President Kagame is
the symbol of absolute evil. This is cultivated primarily by Congolese
politicians, who abdicate their responsibility by passing it on to Rwanda and
Kagame. To borrow the words of Professor Josias Semujanga [professor of
Francophone Literature at the University of Montreal, editor’s note], there is
"a threshold of acceptability on the Tutsi’s noxiousness". It is in
this sense that I interpret the knee-jerk reactions whenever Rwanda is
mentioned, or when Kagame speaks. The Rwandan President drew on historical
facts to show the roots of the situation, which excluded Congolese Rwandophones
in different periods. They are Congolese simply because they found themselves
on the other side of the border [after the partition of Africa by the colonial
powers at the Berlin Conference (November 1884-February 1885), editor's note].
What’s so scandalous about that? The partition of Africa during the colonial
period is a self-evident truth. Kagame reminded us that M23 is not the cause of
the Congolese crisis; it is an offshoot of it.
M23
stems from a crisis, an identity conflict and systemic exclusion of ‘socially
disqualified’ citizens, to quote the German philosopher and sociologist Georg
Simmel. These citizens are treated like second-class citizens in their country.
Without any way condoning the means they use to protect themselves; it would be
important to highlight that they are compelled to defend themselves because the
Congolese state refuses to protect them. In sum, President Kagame draws on
history to warn of the exclusion of Rwandophones on the one hand, and to affirm
cross-border cultural affinities on the other.
At
the end of the Berlin Conference (1884-1885), Africa was partitioned, and
borders were drawn. On what legal or historical grounds does President Paul
Kagame base his claim that Rwandan territories were given to Congo and Uganda?
What is he referring to? Is he referring to the conventions signed in 1910
between the Congo Free State on one side, and England and Germany on the other?
Again,
President Kagame's response to the Beninese journalist was not about the
revision of borders. His remarks consistently denounce the persecution of
Congolese Rwandophones and at the same time they recall the phenomenon of
shared culture between Rwandan citizens and Congolese Rwandophones. He is not
thinking about past conventions; he is thinking about people, the persecution
of a people.
There
is a growing desire to eliminate once and for all Rwandophone populations and
primarily the Tutsi, ignoring the lessons of history. Some Congolese imagine
that exterminating the Kinyarwanda-speaking community would improve the living
conditions of Congolese citizens.
Let's
back up a little on the historical foundations of the border issue.
The
Berlin Conference partitioned Africa based primarily on the redistribution of
resources. The fourteen countries present, especially France, Germany, Great
Britain, and Portugal, were interested in King Leopold II's Congo. This
conference is therefore important to understand the dynamics of certain
conflicts and the birth of modern states in Africa.
For
example, King Yuhi V Musinga, who reigned in Rwanda between 1896 and 1931, was
born in Sake, a region currently located in North Kivu. The toponymy of many
territories in North Kivu are in Kinyarwanda. Congolese nationalists like
Martin Fayulu and Noël Tshiani would need a Congolese Rwandophone or a Rwandan
citizen to explain to them the meaning of places such as Nyiragongo, Karisimbi,
Bunagana, Kishishe, Sake, Bwisha, Rucyuru, Nyamitaba, etc. In addition to the
linguistic evidence, genealogy shows family links between the Rwandophone
inhabitants of North Kivu and those of Rwanda. On the administrative level, the
king of Rwanda used to appoint chiefs to administer North Kivu’s Rwandophone
region.
The
Kingdom of Rwanda existed since the 13th century and expanded over time. The
Congo Free State is an invention of King Leopold II, who ceded his personal
estate to Belgium in 1908. This “property” of Leopold II is an agglomeration of
several dismembered kingdoms such as the Lunda Empire, located between the DRC,
Zambia, and Angola.
The
Kingdom of Congo spans Angola, the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic
of Congo, and Gabon. Rwanda was not exempt from this partition. The Brussels
Convention of 1910 had defined the borders between the Belgian Congo, Uganda,
and Rwanda-Urundi. It was during this period that Bufumbira became Ugandan territory;
Bwishya, Gishari and many other regions were ceded to the Democratic Republic
of Congo. The administrative documents still exist.
Can
you give us an overview of how the Burundian people also found themselves in
the Congo?
Also,
within the framework of the Berlin Conference, the Burundian populations living
in the Rusizi Plain in South Kivu found themselves on the Congolese side. They
even have a traditional chief, Mwami Richard Nijimbere Kinyoni III. The
Kirundi-speaking Congolese have maintained ties with their brothers and sisters
who remained in Burundi, especially in the Cibitoke Province.
However,
migratory movements had intensified along all sides of Congo's nine borders The
inhabitants also continued to circulate on both the Burundian and Rwandan sides
for several reasons. The reality of a Tchokwe, an Alur, a Lunda, or a Bemba is
the same as that of a Rwandophone or a Kirundiphone.
Let's
revisit President Kagame's statements. Are they in line with President
Bizimungu's? What objectives is the Rwandan head of state pursuing by making
such a declaration in the current context of growing tensions with the DRC?
The
former Tanzanian president, Julius Nyerere, also used the same Berlin argument
to denounce the persecution of Congolese Rwandophones. He wanted the Congo to
learn from the approach of managing the Maasai living between Tanzania and
Kenya. Another example that comes to mind is that of two brothers, Arthur Moody
Awori and Aggrey Siryoyi Awori. The former was Vice President of Kenya for five
years, and the latter had served as Minister of Information and Technology in
Uganda. But to be considered Congolese, Rwandophones must deny or hate their
origins, their language, their culture, and their historical ties to (the
Kingdom of) Rwanda.
The
principle of the intangibility of inherited colonial frontiers must be linked
to the rights of the communities who own their land to live quietly and safely
in their country as citizens. The debate over President Kagame's comments only
makes sense to those who use hate as a political tool to hold on to power or
get elected.
As
for President Bizimungu's remarks in September 1996, they need to be
contextualized. At the time, there was a campaign against Rwandophones,
involving mass arrests, torture, deportation, and the massacre of several
Rwandophone Congolese in North and South Kivu. The then Vice-Governor of South
Kivu, Lwabanji Lwaboshi Ngabo, gave the Banyamulenge population one week to
leave Congo.
It
was while visiting a Banyamulenge refugee camp in Cyangugu that Bizimungu made
his statement in relation to the Berlin conference. Not only in relation to the
Banyamulenge, but generally in reference to the persecution of Rwandophones. He
wanted to convey that if you drive out Rwandophone populations, drive them out
with their lands.
The
Congolese authorities suspect Rwanda of seeking to increase the chaos and
violence in the eastern DRC, with the aim of partitioning the country and
annexing certain territories that are currently Congolese. What do you make of
these suspicions?
That
is an absurd idea. What interest would Rwanda have in occupying Congolese land?
Let's start with the premise that Rwanda is responsible for the chaos and
violence in Congo. There are at least 260 armed groups. Are they supported by
Rwanda? I am tempted to quote the Congolese professor, Bob Kabamba: “If there
is a traffic accident in Kinshasa, one might say that it is Rwanda's fault.”
To
my knowledge, there is no declared border conflict between Rwanda and the
Democratic Republic of Congo. However, a border conflict between the DRC and
Zambia resulted in armed incidents on multiple occasions in 1996, 2006, and
2016. Angola has occupied eleven Congolese villages in Kahemba territory. In
both cases, there is never any mention of balkanisation or aggression.
The
Congolese say minerals are the main reason...
If
Rwanda is exploiting Congolese minerals, where is it selling them? Let us name
these countries. The US, China, Canada? When we say that the DRC is a
geological scandal, we are mainly thinking of the two Kasais and Katanga. There
are minerals in Kivu, of course, as well as in Rwanda, but North Kivu and South
Kivu are essentially agricultural regions.
Regarding
annexation, the Rwandan territory is sufficient for its population. Of course,
Rwanda has a high population density. It is estimated that there are 483 people
per km². The space is managed rationally. There is room for humans, green
spaces, and animals. Tourists travel by the thousands to see the mountain
gorillas. Density is not a barrier to development. Monaco has 2,855 inhabitants
per km², Singapore has 12,226 inhabitants per km², the Vatican has 3,000
inhabitants per km², Bahrain has 2,641 inhabitants per km², Bangladesh has
1,709 inhabitants per km² and Barbados has 1,040 inhabitants per km².
The
Rwandan State is not captive to the fetishism of physical space. It has opened
itself up to another reality, including connectivity. Despite its small
territory, it positions itself well on several global issues. Rwanda is the
second country in the world, after Bangladesh, to provide soldiers for UN peacekeeping
missions. Rwanda is the first country in the world to use drones in healthcare
delivery. Rwanda cooperates with several African countries such as Benin, the
Central African Republic, and Mozambique by transcending the notion of
proximity. Rwandan citizenship is not restricted to birthright and Jus
sanguinis (citizenship determined or acquired by the nationality or ethnicity
of parents.) To quote the Congolese philosopher Kä Mana, “Many tribal conflicts
are rooted in the metaphysics of ties to the land.”
In
2007, at the end of a visit to Kinshasa by a Rwandan delegation led by the
Rwandan Minister of Foreign Affairs, who was received at the time by his
Congolese counterpart, it was announced that a joint working commission would
be established to work on the constitution of the boundary markers inherited
from colonisation. Wasn't this an implicit way of acknowledging that there is a
border problem with Rwanda? Does such a commission currently exist?
Do
you realise that the expression ‘inherited colonisation’ suggests a eulogy for
the colonial period? I believe in Césaire’s equation: “colonisation =
‘thingification’. It even makes King Leopold II the founding father of an
African country. But let's move on! To answer your question, as far as I know, there
is no such commission, nor is there a border dispute.
Rereading
history or setting boundaries does not mean that there is a dispute. On the
Rwandan side, however, a parliamentary commission was established in 2023 to
reflect upon the root causes of the Rwandan-Congolese conflict. This commission
wanted, among other things, to understand the animosity against Rwandans, and
the stigmatisation of Rwandophones, especially Tutsi. This commission has also
further identified the FDLR’s role in the dissemination of genocidal ideology
in the Great Lakes region.
As I
said earlier, the backbone of the Republic of Rwanda is the age-old kingdom of
Rwanda. The map of the DRC did not exist until April 30, 1885. To say that
there are Congolese lands in Rwanda is an anachronism. Rwanda’s existence
precedes Congo’s. Are there any lands of the former Kingdom of Rwanda in the
DRC? Yes. But this is an unimportant question in the face of the principle of
the intangibility of borders. However, the DRC’s Rwandophone populations and
their lands must be considered as two sides of the same coin: you cannot have
one without the other.
To
deny citizenship to a group because of its language and features is to deny its
existence. It is chilling when (Congolese politician, Martin) Fayulu declares
that the Banyamulenge do not exist. Citizenship is a fundamental right. For
Hannah Arendt, being a citizen means the right to have rights.
The
Universal Declaration of Human Rights is wishful thinking; but Citizens’ rights
are Human Rights in action and are protected by states. Rwanda recently
evacuated its citizens from Sudan in the wake of the war; it did the same thing
in Libya. Following a traffic accident on the border between Tanzania and
Rwanda, Rwanda dispatched helicopters to evacuate its citizens. You can imagine
the plight of the Rwandophone Congolese who are denied even basic
administrative status. Symbolically, it means reducing them to a state of
nature. A Munyamulenge must walk for several days, far from his place of
residence, to beg for an administrative document that he may or may not obtain
because his nationality is said to be "doubtful". The Congolese state
is silent and complicit regarding the plight of its own people: this is one of
the causes of the M23 war.
Borders
are intrinsic to the question of origins. However, the question of origins
should not separate citizens into natives and non-natives. The republic is not
a burrow. Borders are not walls between countries or peoples. The existence of
borders in Europe does not prevent free movement. In Rwanda and the Democratic
Republic of Congo, people on both sides have created their own spaces of
communion.
There
is a shared cemetery between Goma and Gisenyi, as though to suggest that the
destinies of the people are linked, even after death. The borders between Goma
and Gisenyi, “petite et grande barrières”, are among the
busiest in the world. To travel between the two Congolese cities of Uvira and
Bukavu, the only fast and comfortable road used by the Congolese is the one in
Rwanda.
In
addition to maritime transport across Lake Kivu, Congolese from Goma use paved
roads from Gisenyi and Kibuye in Rwanda to get to Bukavu. There are, sadly, new
deadly borders erected by some Congolese politicians: hate speech. We need to
take them down before it's too late.
For
many years, some observers have held the view that lasting peace in the Great
Lakes requires a revision of the current states' borders and a reconstitution
based on the local populations' ethnic affinities. What are your thoughts on
this?
While
it is an oxymoron and a humiliation for post-colonial Africa to derive the
legitimacy of its borders from colonial practices that gutted societies,
trampled upon cultures, confiscated lands, and murdered religions, to
paraphrase Aimé Césaire in his Discourse on Colonialism, I do not
believe that revising borders is a solution. Somalia doesn’t have ethnic
groups. It is a group of clans with religious, linguistic, and cultural unity.
But now the five hundred clans are smashing the Somali state to bits.
Mauritius, with its mosaic of races, is not in danger. What is needed is
responsible leadership, a societal project that places the citizen, not the
tribal being, at its core. As long as there is corruption, exclusion, and
misery, a scapegoat or an absolute evil will be invented.
It
is imperative that Belgium and Germany recall the historical context of
Rwanda's partition and Congo's creation and assume their responsibility for the
current uncertainties in the region. The Congolese state and MONUSCO must
address the issue of the 260-armed groups more seriously and rigorously. The
activities of the FDLR from within Congo are a serious concern for Rwanda.
It
should also be a serious concern for the DRC. It is imperative that the
Congolese government get out of its epicurean politics, ‘politique de la
jouissance’, and get involved in social and national security projects.
Finally, regional integration must be encouraged.