Congo-Kinshasa: Genocide Ideology Trends Linked to DR Congo-Based FDLR

During the Senate’s tour of 15 districts, including 11 along the international borders, Sen. Jean Pierre Dusingizemungu was shocked when he detected a Genocide ideology case involving a 12-year-old pupil who claimed that he could identify Hutu and Tutsi colleagues by merely looking at their palms.

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A similar case involved a 26-year-old man who ate a snake, in public, claiming that “that’s how we will eat Tutsis”.

These were some of the findings by the Anti-Genocide Parliamentary Forum (AGPF) presented in Parliament, on March 5, during a consultative meeting that brought together government officials, political party representatives, and members of the civil society, to reflect on the status of Genocide ideology in the region, and formulate measures to effectively counter it.

The session was organised in light of the international community’s decision to overlook the spread of the Genocide ideology prevalent in neighbouring DR Congo, and security threats affecting Rwanda.

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Dusingizemungu said that from August to December 2024, there were cases of harassment targeting Genocide survivors in nine different locations which often resulted in their deaths.

The Anti-Genocide Parliamentary Forum found a link between the killings of Genocide survivors and what was happening across the border, in eastern DR Congo, the senator said, noting that there are 16 pieces of evidence of Genocide ideology, with 12 found among people aged 30 and above, two among young adults below 30, and three among children aged between 12 and 16.

Dusingizemungu noted that there are places where women cross the border just to get impregnated by members of FDLR.

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In the same parliamentary meeting, James Kabarebe, the Minister of State for Regional Cooperation, said that the three-decade existence of FDLR, a DR Congo-based militia linked to the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, has been possible because of the support it receives from the international community, including powerful countries that maintain it as a threat to Rwanda’s development.

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Integrated in the Congolese national army, FARDC, the genocidal militia joined other forces allied to the Kinshasa regime, including hundreds of European mercenaries, a coalition of Congolese militia groups grouped in what is called Wazalendo, Burundian armed forces, South African-led SADC forces, as well as UN peacekeepers.

The DR Congo army coalition had planned to attack Rwanda but their plot failed after the AFC/M23 rebels took control of Goma, the capital of North Kivu Province, which borders Rwanda. The UN-sanctioned genocidal militia has, on several occasions in the past, launched attacks and killed people in different parts of the country.

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The AGPF findings also indicated that there are attempts to instil Genocide ideology among youth, especially those who are still in contact with elements of FDLR and other anti-government people.

For instance, he said, a big number of people in Bwisige Sector, in Gicumbi District, where Gen Emmanuel Habyarimana, an ex-FAR member, was born, are being led astray by his messages.

Dusingizemungu noted that while the findings should not go unnoticed, there is a bigger portion of the population that is aligned with national unity and development, such as the youth in sectors neighbouring Burundi who reject and debunk dangerous genocide ideology from their Burundian counterparts.

According to him, more efforts should be geared at the Ndi Umunyarwanda programme for strengthening Rwandans’ unity, and equipping young people with historical facts, among others.

The Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Gertrude Kazarwa, said: “The growing genocide ideology in our region, as we have been informed, should not discourage us but should, instead, enable us to strengthen the defence and strategies we put in place as a country determined not to tolerate evil, since no one knows better than we do where the effects of genocide have led our country.”

Philbert Gakwenzire, the Chairperson of Ibuka, an association of Genocide survivors, said that despite the indictments and international arrest warrants sent to countries all over the world seeking the arrest of Genocide suspects in different countries, there has been little or no will of implementation.

He noted that many Genocide perpetrators fled to different African nations, especially DR Congo and Burundi, which have been reluctant to try them or send them back to Rwanda for trial.

The three-decade existence of the genocidal militia in neighbouring DR Congo been possible because of the support it receives from the international community, including powerful countries that maintain it as a threat to Rwanda’s development, the Minister of State for Regional Cooperation, James Kabarebe, said.

As of 2023, the National Public Prosecution Authority indicated that out of 1,148 indictments and international arrest warrants issued, 1,094 of them had not yet been executed.

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DR Congo has the most indictments and international arrest warrants sent regarding Genocide suspects. It received 408 indictments, meaning that it harbours over a third of the more than 1,000 Genocide suspects in question.