[Since 1994, the world witnesses the horrifying reality : the Tutsi minority (14%) ethnic domination, the Tutsi minority ethnic rule, tyranny and corruption in Rwanda. The current government has been characterized by the total impunity of RPF criminals, the Tutsi economic monopoly, the Tutsi militaristic domination with an iron hand, and the brutal suppression of the rights of the majority of the Rwandan people (85% are Hutus), mass-arrests and mass-murder by the RPF criminal organization.
So long as justice and accountability for RPF past and current crimes are ignored and delayed, Peace and Stability will remain illusive and impossible in Rwanda=>ASIF]
In October 1996 Paul Kagame decided to continue the Hutu hunt down across the border into Congo. This killing mission was not limited to Rwandan Hutu citizens only, but included Congolese of Hutu ethnic background.
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| Léon Kengo wa Dondo Chairman of the DRC Senate |
On October 1, 2010, the UN finally released its report (read it here) about the war crimes, crimes against humanity, major violations of international laws and possibly a genocide committed by Rwandan troops (APR) and its allies, the Rwandan sponsored Congolese rebel group Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo (AFDL ). The report describes bombings, killing by blows of hammers and hoes, shootings, mass graves, dumping bodies in river, the calling of crowds to fake meetings, shooting and killing them as they gather, tying hands and legs before the killing, burning alive and dismembering of Rwandan refugees and Congolese alike. Could Rwandan President Paul Kagame have done this alone without the help of those who are not named in the report? Neocolonialists are equally to blame for the tragedy in Congo, but they serve as judges, critics and arbitrators and were not named in the report.
The Killing of Rwandan Hutu refugees
It is impossible to determine the exact number of Rwandan refugees killed in Congo. To get a sense of what happened, here are selected excerpts from the UN report.:
“On 1 March 1997, AFDL/APR units killed 11 Rwandan Hutu refugees belonging to religious orders on the Kindu road, around twenty kilometres from Kalima, in the Pangi territory. The victims, eight priests and three nuns, had been refugees in South Kivu since 1994. … the soldiers beat them to death with sticks. The bodies of the victims were buried at the scene” (paragraph 238).“Around eight o’clock in the evening on 14 March 1997, after the defeat of the FAZ/ex-FAR/Interahamwe coalition, AFDL/APR soldiers allegedly killed at least 470 refugees in the two camps near Wanie Rukula, in the Ubundu territory. Most of the victims’ bodies were dumped in the Luboya River but some were placed in three mass graves” (paragraph 242).
“It was impossible to determine the number of refugees killed by AFDL/APR soldiers in the attacks on the camps along the Goma to Rutshuru road…. From 2 November to 30 November 1996, the people of Kibumba buried 2,087 bodies. Between 30 November 1996 and 26 January 1997, EUB – Équipe d’urgence de la biodiversité- buried 1,919 bodies in and around the Kibumba camp”.
Targeting Congolese Hutu
If Rwandan Hutus were hunted down by the new Rwandan government forces, why were Congolese Hutu selectively targeted? Here is one of the reasons found in the UN report. “Many witnesses have claimed to have spotted a large number of Tutsi Banyarwanda youths who had left Rutshuru territory between 1990 and 1996 among the AFDL/APR soldiers. According to several witnesses, the AFDL/APR soldiers displayed a clear desire for revenge in their massacres of the Hutu Banyarwanda, targeting villages where Tutsis had been persecuted in the past.”. “The term ‘Banyarwanda’, literally “people from Rwanda”, is used to designate both Hutu and Tutsi populations originating from Rwanda and living in North Kivu. Some are the descendants of peoples of Rwandan origin who settled on the Congolese territory before 1885 and whose Zairian nationality has never been seriously contested. Most Banyarwanda, however, arrived in Congo/Zaire during the colonial era or after the country’s independence” . This footnote explains also in part the killing of Congolese other than Hutu particularly in south Kivu. You are encouraged to read the report here
The Complicity in Crime
A lot has been written about the United States and the United Kingdom connections to the war in Congo through their unconditional support of the Rwanda government. Although some analysts say that their support is out of guilt for not having done enough to top stop the Rwandan genocide, there is more to the story. The French, US and UK competitions for political and economic interests in the region are a big part of the Congo tragedy.
The question at hand is how to expose, oppose and eradicate neocolonialism. We must demand justice for past and present crimes starting by the crimes that continue to take place in Congo. If the US and the UK sign off on the creation of a court to try Kagame and his allies for their crimes in Congo as the UN Report suggests, who else may be exposed in the proceedings?
ENDS
The Truth can be buried and stomped into the ground where none can see, yet eventually it will, like a seed, break through the surface once again far more potent than ever, and Nothing can stop it. Truth can be suppressed for a “time”, yet It cannot be destroyed. ==> Wolverine
