Major-General Sylvain Ekenge
Slowly but surely the mask slips to reveal the ugly truth that Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) president, Felix Tshisekedi, his Western advisers and accomplices, have steadfastly pretended not to see. Under Tshisekedi, the DRC is unequivocally a genocidal state.
It would be inaccurate to suggest that genocide ideology in the DRC begins with the current President, Felix Tshisekedi. The so called Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), an armed group formed out of the defeated planners and perpetrators of the 1994 Genocide Against Tutsi in Rwanda, have much for which to thank Tshisekedi’s predecessor Laurent Kabila. It was Kabila who facilitated them to regroup in the DRC, after they had been scattered to the four winds by Rwanda’s intervention.
There is in fact, a valid argument that the dissemination of genocide ideology into the DRC, can be traced back to the Juvenal Habyarimana presidency, and even a little before that.
It is only under Felix Tshisekedi however, that genocide ideology has become government policy, so much so that for any informed observer, looking at what is happening in the DRC now, the campaigns and slogans of the Rwanda genocidal establishment come immediately to mind.
Genocide is a state crime. To find its roots whenever it rears its murderous head, there is no need to look any farther than state house, in this case, Kinshasa.
There will no doubt be attempts by members of the DRC government to depict the speech by DRC army spokesperson, Major-General Sylvain Ekenge, as some rogue officer’s outburst.
Only the naïve and those with an interest in perverting the truth will be swayed by any such claim. Ekenge’s carefully scripted speech reflects government policy. His only deviation from that policy perhaps, being declaring it so publicly. Congolese researcher, “Maisha RDC” who focuses on identifying hate speech that incites xenophobia and genocide in the Great Lakes region, was far from surprised or shocked by Ekenge’s speech.
“This is not about an isolated individual, much less a mere verbal slip-up by a FARDC General. It is about a well-established system that promotes and normalizes an anti-Tutsi genocidal ideology” he points out, adding, “the meetings and exchanges involving Patrick Muyaya, Minister of Communication, Eliezer Ntambwe, Deputy Minister of Defense, and Chancela Balandi are revealing of this drift.”
“These individuals are conducting an open campaign of stigmatization against Congolese Tutsis, based on the very negation of their existence as Congolese citizens. Even more serious, Chancela Balandi publicly calls for the elimination of all allegedly infiltrated Rwandan officers within the FARDC, a discourse that systematically assimilates Congolese Tutsis to foreign enemies. This dangerous rhetoric fuels hatred, justifies violence, and paves the way for mass crimes.”
Cultivating genocide ideology: Felix Tshisekedi with l-r “Jules Mulumba” FDLR Nyatura and Ndagendange APCLS Militia
The public murders of Kinyarwanda-speaking military personnel, particularly among Banyamulenge, by the governing Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS) party youths are well documented.
The FARDC (Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo) spokesperson does indeed speak not only for the army but for the government, and even members of the Congolese diaspora in Europe and the United States of America.
“My brother Mubenga, the first thing I would like to say, is a big thank you to you. To say thank you, because you don’t realise how important your ‘work’ is in terms of mobilisation and patriotic campaigns.”
The effusive gratitude was from DRC government spokesperson, Patrick Muyaya. The “brother” in question is Jean-Claude Mubenga. His “patriotic campaign” makes Ekenga’s despicable speech seem like a harmless minor infraction by comparison.
“These people [Kinyarwanda-speaking Congolese] are cockroaches. They are infiltrators, they are a virus, when there is a virus, we try to kill the virus, you don’t keep it because it can spread. When you see a cockroach, you must immediately kill it, otherwise they are going to spread and invade you, it’s as simple as that” declares Mubenga, and he goes on, “If you spot a Rwandan, follow them, and if they speak Kinyarwanda, pow, eliminate on the spot and it’s over. That’s why when Wazalendo meet these people, they kill them immediately. We need more young people to join the Wazalendo movement. If we had annihilated all these people, we would be left with only the legitimate sons of the country”
Mubenga is an American citizen or resident, as is his compatriot, Deborah Songa, who calls Texas home. She is even more specific and graphic, calling for the wiping out of Kinyarwanda-speaking Congolese with machetes.
Such individuals are feted and praised by Congolese politicians for their zeal. From Tshisekedi, to DRC foreign minister, Therese KayiKwamba, and of course, Muyaya, they find not censure but applause and encouragement.
UDPS Youths show their support.
Incapable of any real governance, Tshisekedi and his coterie have nonetheless learnt that the powerful nations of the West will always shield him from any consequences of any outrage he commits, so long as he guarantees their access to his country’s natural resources. Chief among these nations is Belgium, which has been quick to express “shock” and “condemnation” of Ekenge’s speech, and others may follow. Tshisekedi, however, rests in the confidence that such condemnations are little more than mere platitudes he can ignore, as though on a wink and a nod between him and those who theatrically express them.
Where after all, were the condemnations when Justin Batakwira, a member of the national assembly and former minister, goes on rabid rants about Tutsi being “snakes born of the devil”. Instead of condemnation, he was, like Mubende, received by the head of state as a “true patriot.” Also regarded as patriots, were UDPS youths who launched “Operation long nose” armed with machetes to hunt down and murder Kinyarwanda-Speaking Congolese.
“The radicalization of Congolese military personnel against those they label as ‘Rwandans,’ meaning Tutsis, began during recruitments from 2022 in particular. At the end of each military training session, in the presence of the Supreme Commander of the Fardc [Felix Tshisekedi], the new soldiers would chant threats of pogroms against Rwandans, well understood in the collective imagination of many of these soldiers that a Rwandan means Tutsi. Félix Tshisekedi has never condemned such xenophobic remarks and incitements to violence against “RWANDAIS…” writes Maisha.
“The Congolese army is a security ecosystem that places anti-Tutsi ideology at the center of its military actions in Kivu” he continues, showing umpteen films where Congolese army officers calling for the murder of Tutsi, almost always in front of politicians, is routine.
“History doesn’t repeat itself, but it does often rhyme” said American man of letters, Mark Twain. The Congolese state today rhymes perfectly with the genocidal establishment in Rwanda thirty years ago. The DRC’s National Radio and Television (RTNC) now chimes with Radio Television Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM), commonly known as “Genocide Radio” or “hate radio” in 1990s Rwanda.
The Congolese army spokesperson’s speech was taken directly from the so called Hutu ten commandments, first published by Joseph Gitera in 1959, during the first genocidal murders in Rwanda. From Gitera, to the FDLR, to FARDC, to Ekenge’s speech, a continuous thread maintained by those who continue to turn a blind to it.
