Opinion
Ramaphosa: Savior in Gaza, mass murder supporter eastern DRC
On the
sidelines of the African Union Executive Council meeting in Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia, South Africa said that as Israel continues preparing for a ground
offensive in the Gaza Strip's southernmost city, it is not complying with
previous orders by the UN's top court to prevent genocide in Palestine.
South
African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor said her country is horrified at what
has been happening to people in the enclave as well as in the occupied West
Bank.
In
late 2023, South Africa filed a case at the UN court in The Hague, accusing
Israel of failing to uphold its obligations under the 1948 Genocide Convention.
In its
interim ruling in January, the court found South Africa's claims plausible. It
ordered Israel's government to cease genocidal acts and to take steps to ensure
that civilians in Gaza receive humanitarian assistance.
International
warnings are escalating regarding Israeli bombardment of the city of Rafah,
amid preparations for a ground invasion.
Since
a cross-border incursion by the Palestinian group Hamas on October 7, killing
some 1,200 people, the Israeli offensive into Gaza has killed more than 28,000
people.
"We
believe this confirms the allegations we have tabled before the International
court of justice (ICJ) that genocide is underway in the occupied Palestinian
territories and clearly the actions of the Israeli government prove that what
we have said is actually accurate," Pandor told reporters.
With
these complaints, one might think the South African government, led by Cyril
Ramaphosa, is committed to humanitarianism.
But to
this point, it is safe to say that Ramaphosa’s government is not speaking for
the sake of Palestinians’ lives. There might be a hidden agenda behind its
statements, other than advocacy for human rights.
The
presence of South African Defense Forces in the east of the Democratic Republic
of Congo, to support the Congolese government in persecuting its own people,
the Congolese Tutsi, speaks volumes.
For
more than three decades, eastern DRC has experienced persistent insecurity
which successive Congolese governments were part of. Congolese incompetent
leaders failed to address the root causes of the long lasting armed conflict in
the area, and refused to comply with advice from regional and international
leaders that the problem needs a political solution, not a military approach
which Kinshasa has employed.
Speaking
to the press alongside his Congolese counterpart Félix Tshisekedi on July 6,
2023, in Kinshasa, during his two-day official visit in the vast country;
Ramaphosa stressed on dialogues and negotiations between concerned parties as
the suitable way of halting insecurity in DRC, mainly in its eastern part where
more than 260 armed groups have found a safe haven.
The
Kinyarwanda speaking Congolese in eastern DRC applauded this statement, but
they are now witnessing another version of Ramaphosa, the real one.
The
71-year old businessman and politician has never cared for the plight of the
Congolese people who are suffering. He deployed thousands of troops to support
Congolese army coalition in fighting M23 rebels, and persecuting Kinyarwanda
speaking Congolese whom the rebel group is fighting to protect.
The
Southern African Development Community mission in DRC (SAMIDRC) was initiated
by the bloc but South Africa has been turning every stone to buttress the
mission. Ramaphosa has a hidden agenda behind the deployment: mineral deals.
The
SADC troops led by South Africa have backed inhumane activities targeting
Kinyarwanda speaking Congolese being carried out by the Congolese army
coalition of Burundian troops, Eastern European mercenaries, Wazalendo militia,
and FDLR, a Rwandan terrorist group formed by remnants of the perpetrators of
the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.
Many
calls have been made that there is a looming genocide against Congolese Tutsi
in eastern DRC.
Following
her visit to DRC in November 2022, UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of
Genocide, Alice Wairimu Nderitu, was deeply alarmed about the escalation of
violence in the Africa’s great lakes region where a genocide - the 1994
Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda – happened.
“The
current violence is a warning sign of societal fragility and proof of the
enduring presence of the conditions that allowed large-scale hatred and
violence to erupt into a genocide in the past,” she said.
Nderitu
said the current violence in eastern DRC mainly stems from the refugee crisis
that resulted as many individuals involved in the 1994 Genocide against the
Tutsi in Rwanda fled there, forming armed groups such as the FDLR, which is
still active.
She
noted that finding a solution to the ongoing conflict in eastern DRC would
require addressing the underlying causes of the violence and learning lessons
from the past.
“The
abuses currently occurring in eastern DRC, including the targeting of civilians
based on their ethnicity or perceived affiliation to the warring parties must
be halted. Our collective commitment not to forget past atrocities constitutes
an obligation to prevent reoccurrence”, the Special Adviser stressed.
Is
Ramaphosa not aware of Nderitu’s concerns?
What
Ramaphosa’s forces are doing in eastern DRC is worse than what Apartheid did to
South Africans.
The
case of South Africans fighting against apartheid should be an eye opener for
Ramaphosa, to understand the cause of the M23 rebels represent a segregated
group, the Kinyarwanda speaking Congolese.
Ramaphosa
is backing the genocidal agenda of Tshisekedi who is killing his own people.
There
is no way Ramaphosa can justify troop deployment to DRC. It is such an
ill-conceived idea and utterly wrong to be on the side of the oppressor of his
own people, and siding with genocidaires, by leader who claims to be champion
against abuses in Gaza.