In reaction to the final communiqué of the “Mini-Summit on Peace and Security in the Eastern Region of the DRC”, held in Addis Ababa, on February 17, 2023.
I. Introduction
The final communiqué of the “Mini-Summit on Peace and Security in the Eastern Region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)”, held in Addis Ababa, on February 17, 2023, recommends in its point e) “the return to the DRC of Congolese refugees who are in Rwanda, […] ». “Rwandophone Congolese refugees”? This bewildering questioning comes from the families of soldiers who died in the performance of the duty assigned to them by international law: to defend their national territory and its people. This paper summarizes the opinion of an average Congolese living in one of the provinces far from the borders with Rwanda. It is forged by dint of discussing the policy of the current regime in Rwanda vis-à-vis the DRC. Reflection helps to understand the concept of “Rwandophone Congolese”, by reading the etymology of the concept. It retraces the challenge faced by the so-called “Rwandophone refugees” in Uganda, Rwanda and the DRC. And makes recommendations to future Congolese generations.
II. What do you give Congolese Rwandan speakers?
In easy French, “rwandophone” contains the prefix “rwando” which is a training indicator constituting the very basis of the word. It refers to people from Rwanda or Banyarwanda. And, the suffix “phone”, an element placed after its radical to form the derivative “rwandophone”. It refers to one who speaks the language of Rwanda, commonly called KinyaRwanda. Thus, the simple etymology concludes that Rwandophone derives its origin from Rwanda. It designates without distinction any person speaking the language of Rwanda. It is neither an ethnic group nor a political movement. So, do “Congolese Rwandophones” exist? Yes of course. In view of the above, it makes sense to find KinyaRwanda speakers in the DRC. However, the problem stems from strategic errors in the misuse of the concept “Rwandophone Congolese” by individuals with political ambitions. Even Interhamwe fighters recycled on the island of Iwawa have returned to the DRC, under the label of “Congolese rwandophones”.
III. The three mistakes of “Congolese Rwandophones”
The first error of “Rwandophone” political groups is to want to serve Rwanda, hoping to win counterparties on the DRC. History shows that all “Rwandophone” claims wars are conceived in Rwanda and carried out in the DRC, by Rwanda, in the name of Rwandophones. Extensive media campaigns are fully covered by the Rwandan intelligence services. The second mistake is to stigmatize oneself by distancing oneself from the rest of the Congolese. By way of illustration, it is common knowledge that the DRC is completely disorganized and corrupt. However, the Congolese are attached to it and find in it the reason to participate in the management of public affairs. Unlike the Rwandophone political groups who find the opportunity to make fun of it, to magnify Rwanda which they present as a model and to justify their participation in crimes against the Congolese. The third error is to want to imitate the course of the RPF/APR of Rwanda on the DRC. Leave the refugee camps, create a mono-ethnic armed political movement and take power. The population that constitutes the Congolese state is made up of hundreds of ethnic groups interfering with the central power, by contributing land to the national territory. Wanting to amputate the State thus built, of a portion of its territory, arouses the solidarity of the other apparently heterogeneous groups.
IV. Rwandophone refugees, journey and strategic challenge of Kigali
The current regime in Kigali has its origins in the former association of refugees settled in Uganda (circa 1970), the Rwandese Refugee Welfare Foundation (RRWF). From 1979, RRWF turned into a political movement, the Rwandese Alliance for National Unity (RANU)which became the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), in 1987. From 1981, the said refugees joined the guerrillas of Yoweri Museveni, the National Resistance Army (NRA), against the Ugandan government. In 1986, then President Milton Obote was overthrown by Museveni, with the help of refugees including Fred Rwigema, founder of the RPF, who became Secretary of State for Defence, then adviser to President Museveni; Paul Kagame, Ugandan military security chief; Sam Kaka, Chief of Uganda Military Police; Dr. Bayingana, Chief of Uganda Army Medical Service; and Musitu, head of the Ugandan military training service. As early as 1986, Ugandan officers protested against the control of their army by Rwandans. In view of this malaise, these Rwandan refugees benefited from military training and logistical support from the United States of America (U.S. Army Command and General Staff College), in order to create their own army. Paul Kagame was trained at the Higher School of War in Fort Leavenworth (Kansas). From the refugee camps in Uganda, the RPF launched military offensives against Rwanda and ended up overthrowing the power of Habyarimana in 1994. The defeated regime poured an immeasurable flow of other refugees into the DRC, then Zaire. At that moment, the RPF became the Rwandan Patriotic Army (APR). For fear of seeing new refugees turn into a political movement against Rwanda, the RPA bombed, from October 25 to 26, 1996, the camps of Kibumba, Mugunga, Katale, Kahindo and Lac Vert. In May 1997, he took power in Kinshasa, under the label of the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo (AFDL) and appointed the current special adviser to the Head of State in matters of security and defence, General James Kabarebe as Chief of General Staff of the Congolese Armed Forces. In July 1998, following Congolese protests against Rwandan control of the state security apparatus, President LD. Kabila decided to dismiss his allies. These triggered the war of systematic looting of the country’s resources on August 2, 1998, under the label of the Rassemblement des Congolese pour la Démocratie (RCD). From this period, Rwanda became the world’s leading exporter of precious materials, strategic minerals and rare metals. With the support of Westerners, the Kagame regime designs and implements a policy of systematic looting of the Congo’s natural resources. We can cite as an example, the contribution of Tony Blair, former Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1997 to 2007, and adviser to President Kagame, from 2008. He facilitated suspicious operations on the international level, by using his companies Tony Blair Associates, Firerush Ventures Ltd et Windrush Ventures Ltd. In addition, his wife, Cherie Blair is the lawyer for the Israeli firm NSO Group et Pegasus Spyware which produces sophisticated technological spy equipment. It is known that the real political motives of the “Rwandophones” are to be found in the cynical policy of Rwanda vis-à-vis the DRC, widely documented by the United Nations Group of Experts, MONUSCO as well as embassies based in Kigali . This enterprise is accompanied by different narratives, in the name of Rwandophones who claim, depending on the era: (i) collective Zairian nationality (AFDL, 1997-1998); (ii) collective integration into the army and other public institutions (RCD, 1998-2003); (iii) fight against the tribalist power of Kabila, bring back refugees from Rwanda and eradicate the FDLR, (CNDP, 2006 to 2009); (iv) collective integration within the FARDC and the civil service, as well as the repatriation of refugees from Rwanda. (M23, 2009 – 2012 and 2022).
V. In Rwanda, war is established as a management policy of the State
The management of the Rwandan state is strictly militarized. The masters of Kigali, since July 1994, have only known war. Individuals with an atypical background, born and raised in refugee camps, before becoming militiamen in Uganda, soldiers in Rwanda and mercenaries in the proxy wars in the DRC. They use war as a management policy for the Rwandan state. Their permanent and authoritarian control of the combatants can be summed up in three points: (i) occupying them to ensure the permanence of political power, (ii) making them economically productive, by looting the disorganized neighboring giant, and (iii) using them against any form threat from the previous regime. President Paul Kagame himself, when he talks about it, he says: “Let those who want to talk about the war ask me”, he said to President Tshisekedi. In a cynical approach, the Rwandan military government claims “to avoid any armed confrontation inside the small country with high density”. From where, it maintains the open war beyond its borders, in the DRC. In December 2015, by referendum adopted with 98% of the votes, General Kagame modified the Constitution which allows him to seek other seven-year terms and to lead the country until 2034. He organized and won the 2017 elections, with 98.66% of the vote. His son, Ian Kagame takes care of the presidential guard. He received military training at United Kingdom’s Royal Military Academy. The protesters are imprisoned or forced into exile, such as opponents Victoire Ingabire, Diane Rwigara, Deo Mushayidi, Paul Rusesabagina. The other son, Ivan Kagame, very close to the son of the former British (EUAN BLAIR), is director at the Rwandan Developement Board (National Development Agency) which manages funds from the export of minerals. He oversees economic operations through Tony Blair’s economic connections in Kazakhstan. Rwandan soldiers who do not want war are perceived as a danger against the regime. They add to the opponents to be silenced, as well as journalists, human rights defenders and YouTubers. For example, the former Chief of Staff, General Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa Faustin, was forced into exile in South Africa (RSA) and Colonel Patrick Karegeya, former intelligence chief, was assassinated in RSA.
VI. Recommendations to future Congolese generations
Each people has the duty to know its history, however painful it may be. In this case, the story of the refugees who are transformed into political movements and their conquest of power in the region of the great lakes. The big mistake of Congolese Rwandophones is to want to imitate the course of the RPF / APR of Rwanda. Leave the refugee camps, create a mono-ethnic armed political movement and take power. It is advisable for them to find a noble way to contribute, with their energies and intelligence, to the construction of the Congolese State, rather than serving the cynical Machiavellian policy of Rwanda against the DRC. To act otherwise would leave the DRC no choice but to move forward without them, willingly or by force. Finally, before recommending the return of Congolese refugees who would be in Rwanda, the mini-Summit on Peace and Security in the East of the DRC should find it bizarre that these refugees demand a warm welcome at home, by killing their own soldiers committed to the defense of their national territory.
–
Maître Hubert Tshiswaka Masoka Hubert
Lawyer and human rights defender.
Lubumbashi, February 23, 2023.
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