PRESS RELEASE

His Excellency President Joseph Kabila Kabange

Gombe, Kinshasa

Democratic Republic of Congo

Re: Ending Impunity for Grave Human Rights Abuses

Your Excellency,

We are writing to you with concerns and recommendations regarding the human rights situation in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and the importance of ending impunity for grave human rights abuses. We recognize that violence and abuses continue, but we are hopeful that the Congolese government, with international support, can make real progress along the path towards greater respect for human rights and justice in the coming months.

The new Framework Agreement signed in Addis Ababa on February 24, 2013, the appointment of Mary Robinson as the United Nations Special Envoy for the Great Lakes region, and the upcoming deployment of the Intervention Brigade – an African-led force within the UN peacekeeping mission in Congo, MONUSCO – present a number of important opportunities. Human Rights Watch is calling for sustained international pressure to ensure that all military support from Rwanda or Uganda to the M23 or other abusive armed groups active in Congo ceases immediately. Those responsible for such support should be held accountable and subject to sanctions.

The regional and international commitments enshrined in the Framework Agreement can succeed only with significant engagement from the Congolese government and real commitment and progress towards implementing crucial national reforms.

We are encouraged by your clear statements over the past year that the Congolese government will not provide an amnesty to M23 leaders who are on UN sanctions lists or who are sought on arrest warrants for war crimes or crimes against humanity, nor will it reintegrate them into the Congolese army. For far too long, the policy of integrating abusive warlords into the army and giving them senior ranks and influence has only served to perpetuate Congo’s cycle of impunity, effectively rewarding the use of violence.

Bosco Ntaganda’s recent surrender and transfer to The Hague was a significant step forward in the fight against impunity for the most serious crimes in eastern Congo. Human Rights Watch believes that your insistence over the past year that Ntaganda face justice played a critical role in this development. We hope that others with records of serious human rights abuses – including M23 leaders Baudouin Ngaruye and Innocent Zimurinda (who are currently in Rwanda), Sultani Makenga, and Innocent Kayna – will also be arrested and brought to justice. These individuals are all on United Nations and United States sanctions lists.

For these measures to have a lasting effect, however, the Congolese government should not make deals with any abusive warlords, regardless of their political, ethnic or other affiliations. The M23 is not the only such group. To end impunity, the government should adopt a consistent and even-handed approach towards all armed groups responsible for serious abuses, and should not promote one-sided justice or double standards. A number of militia groups, as well as some members of the Congolese army, have also been responsible for horrific attacks on civilians over the past year. They include the Raia Mutomboki, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), the Nyatura, Mai Mai Sheka, the Patriotic Alliance for a Free and Sovereign Congo (APCLS), the Mai Mai Yakutumba, the Ituri Patriotic Resistance Front(FRPI), and Mai Mai fighters in Katanga. Hundreds of civilians have been killed and dozens of villages burned to the ground by these groups in the past year. Those responsible should not be rewarded, but instead arrested and brought to justice.

The deployment of the Intervention Brigade comes with a number of risks, but it also presents a unique opportunity to arrest rebel leaders responsible for some of the worst atrocities. The brigade should focus on targeted, well planned arrest operations and take all feasible precautions to minimize harm to the civilian population, evident in past large-scale military operations that resulted in massive displacement and human rights abuses.

In areas in which the Intervention Brigade takes control, it will be crucial for the Congolese government to play a proactive role and, together with MONUSCO, ensure that plans are in place to hold and secure these areas and re-establish credible government institutions and services. Civilian protection should be a priority. A strategy for dealing with opposition combatants who lay down their weapons should be developed and implemented before the start of military operations, and should avoid the failings of past disarmament programs.

As part of the government’s national reform program, and to follow through with other commitments made in the Framework Agreement, we urge you to take the following steps:

· Suspend, investigate, and appropriately prosecute Congolese security force members implicated in war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other serious human rights abuses, regardless of rank.

· Assure that the government does not provide military support to foreign or Congolese militias or armed groups that are responsible for widespread or systematic abuses. Civilian officials or military personnel implicated in providing support to such groups should be suspended from their positions, investigated, and appropriately prosecuted.

· Implement a vetting mechanismfor the army and police to exclude those found responsible for involvement in grave human rights abuses.

· Establish specialized mixed chambers or a specialized mixed court within the Congolese justice system, with the involvement of international prosecutors, judges, and other personnel, to hold trials, in accordance with international law, of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Congo since 1990.

· With the support of the United Nations and donors, urgently develop and implement a new Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration (DDR) program and strategy for dealing with armed groups. Such a strategy should ensure that: those responsible for serious human rights abuses are excluded from the army and instead investigated and appropriately prosecuted; children are immediately separated and handed over to child protection agencies; former combatants who integrate into the army or police are properly trained to function in compliance with international human rights and humanitarian law, and are then deployed to parts of the country other than where they operated as militia fighters; and former combatants are given realistic alternatives to military service, including long-term civilian employment opportunities.

· Ensure that former combatants who are integrated into the army or police, or who join civilian life, are not discriminated against or subjected to torture or other ill-treatment because of their former allegiances. A system could be set up to monitor equal treatment within the security forces and to encourage people to report instances of discrimination or mistreatment. Officials responsible for such actions should be investigated and appropriately disciplined or prosecuted.

Finally, we urge you to involve civil society organizations, particularly human rights and women’s rights groups, in the development of your national reform programs as well as the follow-up mechanisms.

The concerns and recommendations summarized here are explained in more detail in the annex to this letter.

Human Rights Watch is greatly encouraged by the Congolese government’s position that it will not award an amnesty or reintegrate into the Congolese army those M23 leaders who are on United Nations sanctions lists or who are wanted on Congolese or international arrest warrants for war crimes, crimes against humanity, or other serious human rights abuses.

A recent major development in breaking the cycle of impunity and abuse was M23 leader Bosco Ntaganda’s surrender to the United States embassy in Kigali in March and his transfer to The Hague, where he is set to face trial before the International Criminal Court (ICC) for using child soldiers, murder, rape, sexual slavery, and ethnic persecution in eastern Congo in 2002 and 2003. This is a victory for justice and for the people of eastern Congo, who for the past decade have lived in fear as Ntaganda, one of the region’s most brutal rebel leaders, moved from one armed group to another, commanding forces that terrorized civilians. Ntaganda’s arrival in The Hague also sends a strong message to other militia leaders and warlords that they will not be rewarded for their involvement in killing and raping, and that eventually justice will prevail.

Human Rights Watch believes that the Congolese government’s firm position for the past year that Ntaganda would not be rewarded or reintegrated into the army helped create the conditions for him to turn himself in.

As talks between the Congolese government and the M23 continue in Kampala and the Intervention Brigade begins its deployment, we urge you to follow through on commitments not to reintegrate or reward other M23 leaders with records of serious human rights abuses, including Innocent Zimurinda, Baudouin Ngaruye, Innocent Kayna (aka “India Queen”), and Sultani Makenga. These individuals have well-known histories of atrocities committed over the past decade in eastern Congo including ethnic massacres, recruitment of children, mass rape, killings, abductions, and torture. They are also all on UN and US sanctions lists.

According to research by UN human rights investigators and Human Rights Watch, troops under Makenga’s command were responsible for an ethnic massacre in Buramba, recruitment of children and summary executions of deserters while a commander of the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) armed group in 2007-2008; Zimurinda is allegedly responsible for ethnic massacres at Kiwanja and Buramba while a CNDP officer in 2007-2008 and at Shalio while a Congolese army officer in 2009, as well as rape, torture, and child recruitment; Ngaruye is allegedly responsible for a massacre at Shalio in 2009, as well as child recruitment, rape, and other attacks on civilians in North Kivu between 2008 and 2011; and Kayna is allegedly responsible for ethnic massacres and child recruitment in Ituri in 2003-2005 and massacres, killings, and rapes in the Ndorumo and Lukweti area in 2009. Kayna was arrested after the Ituri violence, but was released from prison in Kinshasa in early 2009, apparently for health reasons, while he was awaiting trial for alleged crimes against humanity committed in Ituri. Following his release, he was deployed to the Kivus where he served as a senior commander in military operations before joining the M23.

More recently, these individuals have also been implicated in war crimes committed by M23 rebels, including summary executions, rapes, and forced recruitment of children. Since March 2013, we have documented an increase in forced recruitment activities by the M23, including of children, as well as several cases of summary executions.

Congolese Army

The Congolese army has also been responsible for serious abuses before and since the start of the M23 rebellion. As army soldiers fled the M23′s advance on Goma, they went on araping and looting rampage: at least 76 women and girls were raped by army soldiers in and around the town of Minova, South Kivu province, between November 20 and 30, 2012 according to Human Rights Watch research. We welcome the progress in the investigation conducted by Congolese judicial officials, leading to the suspension in early April of 12 senior army officers allegedly responsible for the rapes. We urge you to ensure that they and others allegedly responsible for the rapes are promptly arrested and prosecuted in fair and credible trials.

We are also concerned about army abuses in the town of Kitchanga, North Kivu province, where soldiers from the 812th regiment, allied with a Tutsi militia they had armed, clashed with the primarily ethnic Hunde armed group, the Patriotic Alliance for a Free and Sovereign Congo (APCLS),from February 27 to March 4, 2013. At least 25 civilians died in the fighting and dozens of homes were burned to the ground, according to Human Rights Watch research. Most of the civilians killed were Hunde, and many appear to have been deliberately targeted by army soldiers because of their ethnicity.

The APCLS had received instructions from senior army officers to deploy to Kitchanga in January, after the group’s commanders made commitments that the APCLS would integrate into the army. The army’s 812th regiment is made up primarily of Rwandophone soldiers who used to be part of the Rwanda-backed CNDP, commanded by Col. François Mudahunga Gasaza, a Hutu, with Col. François Semusaza Muhire, a Tutsi, as his deputy.

We understand that the 812th regiment has since been transferred to Kananga, Kasai Occidental province, but to our knowledge, no soldiers or officers have been arrested for the Kitchanga violence. We urge you to ensure that those responsible are arrested and prosecuted in fair and credible trials.

Rise of Militia Activity and Interethnic Violence

Other parts of eastern Congo have also seen a rise in interethnic violence over the past year, as the government and army focused on the M23 rebellion and left a security vacuum that violent and abusive militia groups sought to fill. Hundreds of civilians were killed and dozens of villages burned to the ground in ethnically motivated attacks by a number of different militia groups, according to Human Rights Watch research. Many of the victims were women and children, hacked to death by machete or burned alive in their homes. Women and girls were often raped during the attacks, and children were forcibly recruited into the militias’ ranks.

Many of the worst ethnically motivated attacks were carried out by the Raia Mutomboki (“Outraged People” in Swahili), a loosely organized network of former militia fighters, demobilized soldiers and youth who armed themselves largely with machetes and spears supposedly to protect local populations from the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a largely Rwandan Hutu armed group, some of whose members participated in the genocide in Rwanda. The Raia Mutomboki often avoided direct clashes with the FDLR, and instead focused their attacks first on the FDLR’s dependents and Rwandan Hutu refugee women and children, and later on the Congolese Hutu population. This group has killed at least 314 civilians since April 2012 in Kalehe, Walikale, and Masisi territories, according to Human Rights Watch research. Nearly all of the victims were Hutu.

As the Raia Mutomboki phenomenon spread in 2012, the FDLR together with the Nyatura, a largely Congolese Hutu militia group, stepped up attacks on civilians from the Hunde, Tembo, and Nyanga ethnic groups. At least 158 civilians were killed by the FDLR and Nyatura in Kalehe, Walikale, and Masisi territories since April 2012, dozens of women and girls were raped, and hundreds of homes were burned to the ground, according to Human Rights Watch research.

Few efforts have been made to curb these abuses or to investigate, arrest, and prosecute those responsible. Instead, government officials have started negotiations with some of these militia groups with no Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) program or a clear strategy for dealing with human rights abusers. The Congolese army has in some cases collaborated with and provided support to armed groups before they officially integrated into the army or went through any form of vetting or training.

Ending the Cycle of Impunity and Abuse

Role of the Intervention Brigade

The new Intervention Brigade could play a key role in assisting in the arrests of leaders of armed groups allegedly responsible for serious human rights abuses, through well-planned, targeted arrest operations, in close collaboration with national and international judicial officials, and in full respect of international law. If these arrest operations succeed, the Intervention Brigade could contribute to ending abuses by armed groups in the longer term and support efforts to bring to justice those responsible for some of the worst atrocities in eastern Congo.

Safeguards should be put in place to avoid the risk of the Intervention Brigade repeating the failings of past military operations that put civilians at unnecessarily greater risk. Under international humanitarian law, all sides to an armed conflict have an obligation during military operations to take constant care to spare the civilian population and civilian structures, and take all feasible precautions to minimize civilian harm. These considerations need to be taken into account before undertaking operations that risk massive displacement and large-scale abuses.

It will also be crucial for the government and the security forces to secure areas from which the Intervention Brigade has taken effective control to avoid a security vacuum in which armed groups could return and punish the civilian population for alleged collaboration with “the enemy” – another failure of past military operations. We urge the Congolese government, together with MONUSCO, to make clear plans – in advance of any operation – for well-organized deployments of Congolese army and police to areas that have been cleared of armed groups and to make sure that soldiers and police are well-trained, including in their obligations to protect the population.

Establishment of a Specialized Mixed Jurisdiction

Human Rights Watch believes that the establishment of specialized mixed chambers or a specialized mixed court under national jurisdiction would be a crucial step in the fight against impunity for serious crimes committed in Congo. Such a mechanism could help ensure that individuals alleged to be responsible for serious abuses are held to account in fair and credible trials.

The specialized chambers or court would be a national institution, embedded within the Congolese justice system, and have a mandate to prosecute war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Congo over the past two decades. The new jurisdiction should be created within the civilian judicial hierarchy and staffed by Congolese and non-Congolese prosecutors, judges, and other personnel, with non-Congolese staff being phased out as the chambers or court gains legitimacy, credibility, and independence. Congolese civil society organizations widely support this proposal, and it was a key recommendation of the 2010 United Nations Mapping Report, which documented serious human rights violations committed in Congo between 1993 and 2003.

The involvement of non-Congolese personnel with relevant experience would help bolster both the new jurisdiction’s expertise to investigate complex crimes and the independence of national judicial staff. The UN and many donors support the creation of this new judicial mechanism and would thus bear some responsibility for ensuring that it receives the cooperation it needs, including with regard to arrest warrants for foreign nationals. The international component would give the specialized chambers or court additional credibility to seek the extradition of high-level suspects currently living outside the country, such as former CNDP leader Laurent Nkunda, who has been under house arrest in Rwanda since January 2009, M23 commanders who fled to Rwanda in March 2013, and FDLR leaders living in other countries.

Because of their mixed national and international composition, and through their interaction with domestic courts that would retain jurisdiction over cases of lesser gravity, the specialized mixed chambers or court would benefit the Congolese judicial system over the longer term by building national capacity and expertise to deal with grave international crimes. The chambers could therefore contribute to the government’s broader efforts to reform and strengthen the Congolese judicial system.

Recommendations:

As part of its national reform program and to follow through with other commitments made in the Framework Agreement, we urge the Congolese government to take the following steps:

· Suspend, investigate, and appropriately prosecute security force personnel, regardless of rank, implicated in war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other serious human rights abuses. This should include those responsible for abuses in Kitchanga in February and March 2013 and the mass rapes in and around Minova in November 2012.

· Assure that the government does not provide military support to foreign or Congolese militias or armed groups responsible for widespread or systematic abuses. Civilian officials or military personnel implicated in providing support to such groups should be suspended from their positions, investigated, and appropriately prosecuted.

· Urgently implement a vetting mechanism for the army and police as a key initial component of security sector reform. Such a mechanism should ensure that officers, soldiers, and police implicated in war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other serious human rights abuses are suspended from their positions, arrested, and appropriately prosecuted. New recruits or former combatants should be vetted for their involvement in past abuses before being recruited into the army or police and should be properly trained to function in compliance with international human rights and humanitarian law before deployment.

· Establish specialized mixed chambers or a specialized mixed court within the Congolese justice system, with the involvement of international prosecutors, judges, and other personnel, to hold trials in accordance with international law of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Congo since 1990.

· With the support of the United Nations and donors, urgently develop and implement a new Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration (DDR) program and strategy for dealing with armed groups active in eastern Congo. Such a strategy should include the following elements:

1. Former combatants and armed group leaders implicated in war crimes, crimes against humanity, or other serious human rights abuses should not be integrated into the Congolese army or police, but should be investigated and appropriately prosecuted.

2. Children in armed groups should immediately be separated and handed over to child protection agencies.

3. Former combatants who are integrated into the army or police should be properly trained to function in compliance with international human rights and humanitarian law, and then deployed to units in parts of the country other than where they operated as militia fighters. Individual army and police units should not be made up primarily of former combatants from one particular armed group.

4. Former combatants should be given realistic alternatives to military service, including long-term civilian employment opportunities. Consideration should be given to the availability or existence of equivalent opportunities for civilians so that former combatants are not seen to be rewarded with opportunities that are unavailable for civilians.

· Ensure that former combatants who are integrated into the army or police, or who join civilian life, are not discriminated against or subjected to torture or other ill-treatment on the basis of their former allegiances. A system could be set up to monitor equal treatment within the security forces and to encourage people to report instances of discrimination or mistreatment. Officials responsible for such actions should be investigated and appropriately disciplined or prosecuted.

Yours sincerely,

Kenneth Roth

Executive Director

CC:

His Excellency Augustin Matata Ponyo Mapon, Prime Minister

Her Excellency Wivine Mumba Matipa, Minister of Justice and Human Rights

His Excellency Alexandre Luba Ntambo, Minister of Defense

His Excellency Raymond Tshibanda, Minister of Foreign Affairs

His Excellency Richard Muyej, Minister of the Interior

His Excellency Léon Kengo wa Dondo, President of the Senate

His Excellency Aubin Minaku,President of the National Assembly

Lieutenant General Didier Etumba Longila, Chief of the Armed Forces

General FrançoisOlenga, Chief of Staff of the Land Forces

General Charles Bisengimana, Commissioner-General of the Police

Human Rights Concerns in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and Opportunities for Ending Impunity M23

The Rwandan people [90%] hearts are bleeding with pain as the so called development is a big sham and insult to them. To even make matters worse, their tormentors-Rwanda Patriotic Front extremists have the most powerful godfathers on this planet; from the Illuminati, to the American street pick-pockets.

I’ve studied oppressive entities but this one in Rwanda is beyond….
Its only in Rwanda were the state can come and vandalise (cut-down your food) your garden that has fed an entire generation because they can do it, and are doing it even now. That’s why the autocracy has shamelessly decided to rename Rwanda Republic to Rwanda Inc. Thus, Rwanda is officially a Private company of  Kagame and no longer a country for the people-by the people.
In kinyarwanda culture, home-steads have always planted several food crops as a form of food security and hunger management. In order to manage land scarcity, families woul plant a couple of Banana trees, while at the same-time, that small piece of land could be used to grow beans,potatoes, peas,etc.thus, every season a poor family was assured of a meal on the plate.
But today, the autocratic regime of RPF has violently forced the population from growing food crops but coffee for Starbucks, Tea for Jannet Kagame, Vanilla for Tony Blair,etc.
Okay, you might think that this is ridiculous and its not happening. Very wrong, because its happening and it has led to a large-scale food insecurity.
Maybe, the idea of growing a single crop would have been viable,  if the small-holding farmers had the capacity to sell their product at a reasonable price. However, this’s not the case-what we have in place are politically run-semi cooperatives that use Cambodia Khmer Rouge’s type of extortion method. Thus, a gang of political party officials go around home-steads intimidating people to grow a particular crop and are given a particular date for harvesting. Those families that didn’t meet the harvest time, are accused of spending time in Congo with FDLR and their homes razed to the ground.
Those that met the deadline,surrendered their products to RPF party official that payed them peanuts, then took their products to a forth official, who then took the products to the main cooperative point as his products.
This has led thousands of families into despair-remember that employment opportunities are not available to all Rwandans especially those that are classified as Hutu and Twa.

In fact not all Tutsi have access to employment opportunities-regardless of their education background. As one has to have a Ugandan connection, royal to the RPF autocracy and has also undergone RPF ideological indoctrination.

Everyday 2-5 families are leaving Rwanda for Uganda and Congo as they can’t handle it anymore-in fact, 2 cases were reported in Byumba were families resorted to eating dogs, which is a taboo in Kinyarwanda culture. Not only that, but last month, a youth that plucked a single corn from a plantation that belongs to Jannet Kagame, was arrested and hacked to pieces by security operatives as a deterrent method.
I could go on and on….they’re so many horrible things that are happening to ordinary Banyarwanda. For instance, brewing traditional beer has also been stopped, Having a grass thatched house is also a crime, and this would lead to your house being razed and then expelled from your village. Horrible… horrible!!

Just like a Rwandan political commentator said a few days ago, “The problem with Kagame and his autocracy, is the failure to come out of the bush ways , when everything was done in the interest of armed rebels at the time, they have failed to realise that they now serve Banyarwanda and not a small clique of armed rebels”

This is a crisis that needs to be addressed, otherwise we could see an eruption of violence very soon.

The things that always shows you what one’s culture is all about, are normally; The Leadership (social and political), History,Food & Drinks, Architecture/Design, Beliefs, Dance & Music,etc.

However, most of these traits are at the brink of extinction in present day Rwanda.
The cultural leadership(Mwami) is still languishing in Exile. The cultural food and drinks is being aggresively destroyed in favor of foreign imports that are traded by the Kagame clique.

Its a criminal offence to brew Rwandan traditional beer(Urwagwa)-an offence that has not been put in statutes, but an RPF bush law that could easily lead to being killed-After 19 years, Rwanda Patriotic Front still has a bush mentality, and that’s why Rwandans haven’t stopped bleeding with pain to this day.

The Kihutu (kinyarwanda) dress code has become more of a ceremonial attire-in fact, Tyrant Kagame is ashamed to wear it, and has rarely worn it in public. Due to his inferiority complex, he prefers to dress in Italian designer suits. This inferiority complex could be attributed to lack of cultural leadership in the Country and in his upbringing-though monarchs are never democratic per say, but they do encourage and inspire its subjects to love their heritage.Thus, the Mwami is the custodian of all Banyarwanda heritage.
The half-baked policies of RPF autocracy are not the only one to blame, but western imperialism that has mentored Criminal Paul Kagame-Yankee culture is the biggest crap that is being imported to Rwanda. In fact, there’s more inward investment to Rwanda, for the youth to learn how to rap like gangsters(abusing their mothers and sisters), break dance like fools, Vandalism art, aka graffiti, basket ball, etc. than run  inanga workshops.

The Nanga has been relegated to a decorative object, that can been found miserably hanged on a wall. Thus, our culture has been sentenced to death by hanging. The Inanga was frequently used to accompany storytelling or epic historical recounts, the inanga regularly supported important governmental functions and non-governmental celebrations. At one time the inanga was played in the royal court to sooth the mwami.

Rwandans are thought to have been primarily a vocal dynasty, that used praise songs [urugero], wrestling songs [amusare], hunting songs [amahigi], war songs [indirimbo z'ingabo], pastoral songs [amahambo], and choral songs [ibihozo] comprised the majority of these inherited traditional songs.

It was also played to incite war in years past. Despite its specific cultural and ethnic-based roots, the inanga remains a rich symbol of Rwandan cultural unity. Its no longer everyday sounds-cape of Rwanda, as the omnipresence of the sounds of electric guitars and keyboards(computerised) and the popular hits of artists such as Meddy, Diplomat, Miss Jojo, etc. have taken over.
The acoustic, plucked through-strung the strings- inanga functions as a musical badge of identity for members of all Rwandan ethnic groups (Hutu, Tutsi, and Twa). The musical instrument  accompanies the strong, historically situated lyrics of players trained in a centuries-old tradition, while also introducing newer lyrics addressing important issues such as unity and reconciliation. The arrogant autocracy of RPF has overlooked the importance of this cultural tool, as they only believe in forced unity using the gun.

However, the RPF autocracy believes in Mchaka-Mchaka Marxists type of boot-camps to formulate the Unity and reconciliation of Banyarwanda. Now, this is what I call  real bush mentality-”you can get the man out of the bush, but you can’t remove the bush out of him” said a tomato seller.

Before the Europeans arrived, Rwanda was there for several centuries with a socio-political unity, lined by natural borders, with a common language (Kihutu) and with common religious and philosophical principles.
For centuries there had been different tribes: Hutu (mainly farmers), Tutsi (mainly herdsmen) and Twa‟s (pygmies, hunters). The name “Tutsi‟ originally means ´he who owns cattle´ but gradually became an indication for “ruler‟, the leading elite.
The name ´Hutu´ originally means ´subordinate´ or ´client of a mighty person´ and finally became an indication for ´ordinary people´.
Tutsi started to differ due to marrying among themselves and different food especially diary products. These farmers and herdsmen lived in a relative peace, spoke the same language and had the same religion.
The majority married within the group in which they were raised, but marriages between the two groups were there as well.

It was also possible for a Hutu to become a Tutsi if he acquired more cattle or climbed the social ladder

The German Ruanda-Urundi  and Belgian colonial mandate

Europeans wanted to avoid carrying the war into their colonies … but that was not the case in Rwanda Urundi. August 15, 1914, German troops based in Rwanda Urundi cut the telegraph line along Lake Tanganyika and bombed villages around Lake Tanganyika. On August 22, a German ship opened fire on Lukuga port. Following the attack, the Minister of Belgian Colonies, Renkin sent a telegram to the governors of the Congo and Vice-Governor of Katanga ordering military action to defend the territory …
On 18 April 1916, the Belgian offensive was triggered on the order of General Tombeur. The attacking forces included two groups: those of colonels Molitor (north), and Olsen (south). The first day, the brigade occupied Olsen Island Gumbo (southern Lake Kivu). The next day,Shangugu (Cyangugu) fell. Brigade Molitor made ​​U turn from Uganda(Kabale) to Kigali on May 6 1916.Les German forces from Burundi commanded by Captain Von Languenn opposed a vigorous resistance, but could not stand before the Belgian numerical superiority. May 19, 1916, Major Muller occupied Nyanza. June 6, Usumbura fell under Belgian forces commanded by Colonel Thomas.
Kitega was taken on June 17 Rwanda and Burundi got occupied.
Following the Treaty of Versailles, Germany lost its colonies in favor of the victorious countries. The League would award a mandate to the Belgians on Rwanda Urundi. Can you imagine???

The Belgians in Rwanda

The Germans had left the local governing structure (consisted of the king (mwami) and his chiefs) intact; although the mwami was subject to the authority of a white man with a white army to maintain this authority. The rebellions in German East-Africa were suppressed harshly and several hundred thousands were killed.

As of 1900, monks (Patres Albi) and some protestant missionaries resided in Rwanda. Out of practical (political-church) motives the religious workers cooperated with the German and later Belgian colonial governors. All types of tasks (food-supply, road maintenance, transport for the ruler) were organised by them. Refusal to work was punished in a military way(the exact things RPF is doing to Rwandans) and this did not contribute to the spreading of the “good news”, but forced religious indoctrination.

These Patres Albi were painfully unpopular, also because of forced Catholicism.
The mass and teaching were in Latin-In 1931 king Musinga was deposed because he didn’t cooperate enough with the ruler and was replaced with his son, Mutara III. He was later baptized in 1946 and dedicated Rwanda to Christ. Rwanda was seen as of then as a role model of a catholic state.

In the 1920′s the Belgian colonialists changed the Rwandan state because of a more efficient administration and the delicate native balance of power. The people were forced to grow coffee, up to 50% of their working hours, often whipped if they were not willing and severe taxes were imposed.

Belgian soldiers were active from 1917 to 1958, contributed to the maintenance of a colonial system in Rwanda. Thus, they run an indirect management, based on the support and protection of a Tutsi monarchy, at the expense of the vast majority Hutu population.
At first the Belgians followed the same rule of indirect rule, but later started to interfere more and more in the existing structures.

The ‘Tutsification’ of Rwanda

Both Church and state organised the governing system so that only Tutsis could occupy senior functions.

Thus, Hutus were discharged from powerful positions and refused higher education. The Tutsis gratefully accepted this role. To empower the new situation and legitimise it, the Church (especially Mgr Léon Classe) brought up the myth of ethnic superiority. Tutsis were claimed to be of the Chamitic race (of Cham, Noah‟s son) and were closer to the white race which would explain their superiority (a version of “social Darwinism”, a theory of “evolution” of the people that was practiced in that era).

In short, the Tutsi became brainwashed into believing that they’re born leaders, and should be the reigning class. To explain this racial difference they performed all kinds of “scientific” tests of skulls, noses and sexual organs (similar to how the Nazi‟s wanted to prove the superiority of the Arian race in Europe). Using the educational system many generations in Rwanda were fooled by this race-hypothesis.
The Tutsis too, believed in the Nazi race superiority hypothesis,and imposed forced hard-labour on the hutus. Those who did not obey, were violently ill-treated by the Tutsi bosses.

Since identification based on external features seemed difficult the Belgians started a compulsory registration as of
birth in the thirties. Each person had to declare to which group he belonged (Twa, Hutu or Tutsi) and this was recorded on his ID-card. Everyone with more than 10 cows was automatically labelled as Tutsi. This written registration destroyed the self-image of the people of Rwanda towards their own identity. Thus, the foundations for the later post-colonial ethnic tensions and political instability had been laid.

The government Force was composed of:
- Only Belgian officers
- Junior-officers were mainly Belgians and Congolese natives.
- Soldiers who were recruited among Congolese.
Congo got its independence and this was an opportunity to exclude Belgians from the national Force. Patrick Lumumba, the then Prime Minister gave instructions to Congolese soldiers in Rwanda to leave and return to their own country. For this reason, the Territorial Guard of Rwanda – Burundi was created on the 13th June 1960, before elections took place. Few days later a school for junior-officers for both Rwanda and Burundi was created in Usumbura. This type of command for both countries helped to initiate a local military training for whose command was extended to those two countries.

The Rwandese territorial guard command was given to Major François Vanderstraeten. Many Belgian deputy officers from different ranks were sent to Rwanda to support their staff.

The colonial military used the “ piglet system” to eliminate some individuals just like what the RPF is doing today. No wonder, they used to tell Congolese before Killing Hutus that when you hear any wailing sounds, just know its pigs being slaughtered and you shouldn’t worry.
It was a system that scrutinised people basing on physical tests. Although Tutsi were allowed to join the military, it was very hard for them to be admitted. Military officers would do whatever they could to make them fail.

The Rwandese section of the school for junior officers was transferred from Usumbura to Astrida (Butare) in November 1960. Some divisions, and the likes of platoons, were created in provinces. On November 10, 1960 the school for officers was opened and seven students registered.

Some of the students were; Juvenal Habyarimana, Aloys Nsekalije, Bonaventure Ubalijoro and six of them were promoted to the rank of 2nd lieutenant on December 23, 1961.
During the period between December 1962 and July 1967, Rwanda encountered different incursions of “Inyenzi” Tutsi resistance fighters, consequently, new units were created and established on the boarder. In December 1973, the National Guard was called Rwandese Army.
In 1978, the National Army was merged by the National Police Force (Gendarmerie) and later became the Rwandese Army Force6 (F.A.R).

The Hutu-revolution

In 1946 Rwanda became a Trust-ship of the United Nations, which meant that the Belgians would prepare the area for independence (which happened on July 1, 1962). In the years after WWII everywhere in Africa movements for independence started to mushroom.
In addition a post-war generation of Belgian rulers was more aware of the problems of the suppressed people, the Hutus. The Hutus were appointed now in junior governmental positions and were allowed to receive education in seminaries. A new reversed myth was born: the Hutu was no longer the dumb, dirty farmer, but a people that had suffered under a Tutsi tyranny for ages. Tutsis were no longer the sophisticated, related to white aristocrats, chosen to reign, but were now portrait as an underhand for colonialists and bloodthirsty warriors who had shed a trail of blood from Ethiopia all the way to Rwanda.

In 1957 the ´Bahutu-manifesto was published-that expressed the will for emancipation of the Hutus. The church with Mgr Perraudin as spokesman supported this document fully.
In 1959 the violence against Tutsis started and ten thousands fled over the border to Congo, Tanzania and Uganda (between 1959 and 1973 approximately 700.000; later they did not receive permission to return). In the colonial army all Tutsi chiefs were replaced by Hutus.
In the same year the moderate king Mutara III Rudahigwa died under strange circumstance (he died shortly after a vaccination by a Belgian doctor; many people in Rwanda consider it a murder). His half brother Kigeli V succeeded him, but after a trip to the UN in New York, access to Rwanda was denied by the Belgian governor Harry. Rwanda was made a republic with a Belgian stamp.

What do we all learn from this??

The fact of being a Mututsi, Muhutu or Mutwa never depends on the origin as portrayed by the western imperialists because none of the Rwandan people knew or thought that they came from different places on different times. These issues of origin and migration were colonial concepts.

In terms of social formation, some people who acquired a given status whether lower or higher could join easily another category or class of people. In this case, a Muhutu who acquired a good number of cows gained the status of a Mututsi and this was commonly known as ‘kwihutura’, likewise, when a Mututsi was impoverished and began to cultivate, he could be categorized easily as a Muhutu.

The fact is that, imperialists found these ‘classes’ in Rwanda, under the monarchy. Typical of any monarchy, Rwandan monarchy too practiced some kind of oppression based on these classes. However, they did not go far like the coloniolists or even the RPF today.Thus, they were a bit tolerant.

The Reason Why Banyarwanda are suffering, is how adults continue to brainwash generations of Banyarwanda with nonsense:

Version 1
Gihanga had three sons equally courageous. He did not know seasons for any growing.By then people cultivated anytime. As a result, crops were sometimes good and others bad.
One day, Gihanga sent his sons Gahutu & Gatutsi to Kibariro (the cultivator) to have appropriate information on cultivation.
Before Gahutu and Gatutsi arrived, they came to the place where people were slaughtering a cow. Gahutu told them “let me show you how to do it” he cut up the cow and he was given some meat for the work done. Gahutu put the meat on Gatutsi’s head and continued. They arrived to Kibariro who had organized a collective work in his
fields.
Those who were cultivating gave Gahutu and Gatutsi some beer. Gatutsi did not want to drink, but Gahutu did so. When Kibariro saw that Gatutsi refused to drink, he called him and gave it to him in a secret place alone.

Gahutu told Kibariro that they had a message addressed to him by their father Gihanga. Kibariro responded that he would receive it  at night. They went to sleep. At night Gahutu started vomiting and because of that, Gatutsi went to sleep in the same room as Kibariro. When Kibariro woke up he asked his wife why Gihanga’s sons did not come to
deliver to him the message sent by father. He added: “if they come late, I will tell them
nothing or I will lie to them.”

Kibariro began to tell his wife about different seasons of cultivation. “The first month is September and when it appears people saw beans. Fields are prepared for sorghum in October and November. It is cut and harvested in July and then cows come to graze at these places; August is the end of the year. Thus Gatutsi who was in the same room heard all these and returned to his guesthouse.

The following morning, when Gahutu got up, he went to Kibariro but Kabiriro lied to him.
Every time Gahutu asked for more explanations, Kibariro would tell him that he could not talk to deaf people.

They went back home and when Gihanga saw them; he felt happy and demanded for a report. Gahutu said that Kibariro talked too so much that he could understand nothing.
Gihanga got angry, because his eldest son could not provide the required information. Gatutsi took his father aside and told him all about the seasons and the bad behavior of Gahutu during their trip. Gihanga ordered Gatutsi to kill Gahutu, but he refused.
Gihanga told Gahutu; “You will not be a chief as planned, but Gatutsi will be your master; he will scorn Gatwa.” Since then and thereafter Gahutu did not sleep and Gihanga told him that he would be Gatutsi’s watchman and his client. Moreover, he would receive milk from Gatutsi and would have no cows. Gatwa would be the carrier for Gatutsi.

I’m sure you’ve been told other versions

•Version 2

Imana created Hutu, Tutsi and Twa and the girl. One day, Imana called them and poured some milk in four pots and gave one to each one. Imana asked them to keep the milk without sleeping until he would come back. They waited but got tired.
The foam of Gahutu’s milk got out the pot and fell on his hands. He licked it. The Tutsi milk also did the same a bit. The girl’s milk foam poured on her breasts. Gatwa waited for a long time, got annoyed and drank the whole milk and slept.
When Imana came back, he asked questions to everybody to know what happened. Then Imana fixed the destiny of
everybody accordingly.
To Hutu whose milk poured on his hands said to him; “work in fields for Tutsi and make baskets and carpets for him”.

For the girl, Imana said, “your milk is in your breasts. Let Hutu marry you and give you milk”. For Tutsi who kept some of his milk, Imana said, “if you get ten cows, five will die and you will stay with five. If you have twenty cows, ten will die and you will remain with ten”.

For Twa, Imana said, “go and be a porter, damned for Tutsi so that he gives something, damned for the king so
that he gives you something”.

Version 3
Gahutu and Gatutsi were walking together and met Imana. He called Gahutu and ordered him to beat the earth; Gahutu had planed to travel and die, he refused and said, “No, my father, I cannot beat the earth with my stick”.
Imana ordered the same thing to Gatutsi who obeyed and suddenly a flock of cows got out the earth.
Then Imana told Gahutu, “You are Hutu, you think much about your life. Gatutsi must be your boss”.
Gahutu regretted what he had done and thus Hutu were dominated by Tutsi because they were not intelligent.

I wonder if they’re phones for Hutu or Tutsi-because Twa can’t even afford one.

Next-time I’ll look at Why 1st, 2nd and 3rd Republics, have been characterised by ethnic and regional discrimination in almost all areas.

Joram jojo

This program discussed the inequalities that the majority of Banyarwanda face when it comes to remember the victims of Rwanda genocide. The entire program is in Kinyarwanda.
Icyunamo ni icya buri mu Nyarwanda, ariko FPR yacyihinduye Icyunamiro cya Batutsi bonyine. Ese, abandi Banyarwanda nta kababaro nabo bagira?
Icyi cyiganiro cyavuze kuri byensyi bibabaza Abanyarwanda muri rusanjye. Urwanda ntabwo rwashobora gucira akababaro hariho ibibazo bitemera ijyice icyindi cya banyarwanda cyibuzwa kwibuka abavandimwe babo bafuye.

To most Congolese, the sidelining of  the”Terminator” will not change anything on the ground-in terms of security. Especially as Bosco Ntaganda was a pawn in the banditry cartel of Rwanda and Uganda. So, the real sponsors of insecurity in the region are still at large – that is to say their ability to murder,rape,plunder,enslavement,displacement and enlisting child soldiers, is still very intact.

Many people within the Rwandan community have listened to this testimony including, dictator Paul kagame’s former inner circle such as;
1.Jerome Nayigiziki
2. Gervais Condo
3. Lt. Gen. Kayumba Nyamwasa
4. Dr. Gerald Gahima
5. Jonathan Musonera
6. Col. Patrick Karegeya
7. Dr. Theogene Rudasingwa
8. Joseph Ngarambe
9. Dr Emmanuel Hakizimana
10.Jean Paul Turayishimye
Why this testimony is genuine, it was aired by a blog radio owned by them and non has disputed the content of the testimony.

“I’ll give you my testimony about what happened in the Congo, where I was a soldier of the RPA, (now known as the RDF, Rwandese Defense Force, before being assigned to the DMI (Directorate of Military Intelligence). At the time, we were sent to kill the refugees in Kisangani at the command of Captain Shema of the DMI and Lieutenant Frank Bashimake. In their escape the refugees walked on the roads until Kisangani, and when arrived at Kigangani, they were blocked by the river; it’s there that they perished. I will tell you about what occurred there, Rwandan friends”, declared the former DMI member who recognizes himself as a former RPF killer, now a refugee in Europe, and who did not want to reveal his name or address for his safety and that of his family. He delivered his story in Kinyarwanda on Itahuka radio on Saturday February 9th . Radio Itahuka is a web radio founded by the platform of the Rwandan National Congress (RNC), a platform initiated and directed by old personalities of the RPF, formerly close to Paul Kagame.

A refugee transformed into a killer

Born in Rutshuru in Eastern Congo, this former DMI is a descendant of the former Tutsi refugees driven out of Rwanda in 1959. He joined the rebellion of the RPF in 1993, a year before the victory of the movement on the Habyarimana’s reign. Shortly after, he was assigned to the infamous DMI (Directorate of Military Intelligence), the Rwandan military intelligence agency indicted for its role in the execution of thousands of Rwandans and foreigners.

“”I want to give my testimony on Rwandan leaders in general and what they have done since the RPF launched the war of liberation. I’ll tell you because it makes me very sick at heart and that is what pushed me into exile again”, he said.

Objective: to liquidate any Hutu on Congolese soil

“We attacked and massacred Rwandans brutally and in unimaginable ways, the one who commanded us and who, on his turn, was under the command of General Paul Kagame and Jacques Nziza, asked for all Hutu refugees on Congolese soil to be assassinated and they further announced that those who refuse to do so will be executed on the spot. (…) Among my colleagues there were some who were executed because they refused to obey orders. “We put refugees fleeing Tingi-Tingi NDRL a refugee camp) in trucks and sent them off to several places: we led some of them on the other side of the river, a place they called “left bank”. Thousands and thousands were massacred there. Another place is Devansende, it is within 59 kilometers of the town of Kisangani: in this place we massacred several thousands of people. We had dug holes where we threw the bodies, we did not make any distinction: children, women and aged people, everyone had to go because the orders were to kill every Hutu on Congolese soil. We employed all means that were at our disposal: bullets, agafuni (used hoes), plastic bags over their heads, tying their hands behind their backs, etc…..”, he continued.

“We killed until we were exhausted. Some refugees were even dying of hunger. Captain Shema told us that we tired ourselves for our country. ’There are many of them.If we do not eradicate them they will come back to chase us out of the country’, he liked to repeat.This witness also sheds light on the perpetrated massacres in Mbandaka, in the area of the Equateur: “On the left bank of Mbandaka, we also massacred a lot of people, because refugees were stuck there, they could no longer move. Religious individuals who tried to intervene suffered the same fate on their turn. After their death, we pillaged their vehicles and later used them to transport and burn the bodies.

“People whom we massacred were all civilians. For example, in Rafasenti, we made the refugees believe that we were going to bring them back to Rwanda. We made them get into several trucks, especially the men, and more than 4000 of them were loaded. They were all killed on the same day.

“Those who escaped death are those who were picked up by the UNHCR from the forests. They are the only ones who were able to escape us. (…) Our criminal activities proceeded from 1997 up to 1998 when Laurent Kabila asked us to leave”, the former agent of the DMI specified.

Leave no trace

According to the witness, every effort was made ​​in order to not leave any traces of these massacres, because the international community was already following the situation of these refugees. “We had dug pits in the surroundings of the city of Kisangani; everything was well-planned and highly driven by General Paul Kagame. Bodies piled up in these mass graves as the cubic meters of firewood. At the top we covered the graves with tarps, this allowed us to easily open and put other bodies in.Once the holes filled we would burn them. Each night we used motor boats to carry the ashes and throw them in the Zaire River (Congo River). Throughout what we did, we were ordered not to rest, it was obliged to carry out orders so we wouldn’t get executed on our turn. We were small soldiers under the orders of General Paul Kagame, General Nziza and General Kabarebe,who was our direct leader on the field. Captain Shema commanded our section’’, the witness reported.

The killers were carefully selected

According to the witness, the killers were thoroughly chosen, they were selected among Tutsis from Congo, because according to him, the command of the APR did not trust Tutsis from Uganda, Burundi and Tanzania to carry out this mission which was to be fast, well made and especially discrete. The choice was made mainly on Tutsis originating from the Congo. The witness even affirmed that the guards closer to Paul Kagame, who ensure his security and property, are those coming from the Congo, because the strong man of Rwanda would not trust his compatriots from Uganda, Tanzania and Burundi.

“Before the massacres, a meeting was held in the town of Kisangani one evening, led by captain Shema, now a Major, and his assistant lieutenant Bashimake who today is Captain and chief of brigade 408 of the police force in Ruhengeri. During this meeting, we were asked a question: ‘According to you, why are you here from only one ethnic group?’ We answered: ‘We do not know anything of it’. Thus they explained us that if we were onlyTutsi, it was that we had a job todo, without specifying what it this job was . We did not know each other because we came from different battalions, (…). Captain Shema explained to us that it was the General staffthat had chosen us for this work; this is why we could not say “I refuse to do it or I am sick”. In Kigali we were selected by where we were born, our family and our country of origin”, said the witness.

Keep away unwanted witnesses

The witness also delivers his account of why his squadron was to take away witnesses, especially NGOs which were likely to take steps in order to know the ground of refugees. “We were ordered to retain the humanitarians in the town of Kisangani, if necessary to shoot at them to make them believe that certain places were dangerous. I give you the example of the Red Cross; we killed some of its members because they were obstinate to know the truth” he said.

In his opinion the humanitarians were prevented from going to the spot of the massacres before the executioners finished their work. “We contained the humanitarians in Kisangani until we transferred the bodies to 150km inside the forest to not leave evidence for the investigators. (…) Captain Shema and Lieutenant Frank Bashimake ordered us to work over 24hours without resting”. He affirms that they even fired on aircrafts of the United Nations with heavy weapons. The planes were flying over the area of the killings in an attempt to try and understand what was happening. “When we fired on a plane, it did not pass above the same zone again ” he says.

“When the United Nations started to raise suspicions on our atrocities regarding Kisangani, the press questioned Paul Kagame on the massacres which were made on the ground. The latter did nothing but deny. Kabarebe who directed the Rwandan soldiers to Congo, answered the same thing and Kabila (NDRL Joseph Kabiba, the father ) also denied the facts. They all said that no Hutu refugee was killed on the Congolese soil. We were astonished to hear that on the spot , we followed BBC all the time”.

The former soldier also gave the examples of unquestionable officials who were eliminated because they had supervised the massacres. “The regime wanted to ensure their eternal silence”. It is the same case for majors Ruzindana and Birasa, who were eliminated by the DMI and Bagire who died poisoned. “What I am sure of is that everyone who was used for the massacres went into exile or was killed after” Me too, when I left the country in March 2006, they wanted to kill me. Major Birasa, chief warrant officer Abbas who supervised the massacres in the Kami camp, lieutenant Rushoke who was known to be the cruelest of all, all of them were assassinated in the Kami camp and then transported towards Nyungwe forest ” the witness affirmed.

The massacres in Rwanda

The witness also told the radio operator Itahuka about certain cases of massacres in Rwanda to which he assisted directly or indirectly. He reconsidered the massacres which were made at the regional stadium of Ruhengeri (in the North of Rwanda) in 1998, on the orders of Gasheja who directed the battalion 408 of Ruhengeri, and Gasana, who directed brigade 408 of Ruhengeri. According to the ex-soldier, these officers picked up people from Nyakinama, Kinigi, Nyamutera and Giciye, and gathered them in the stadium of Ruhengeri. People arrived to the stadium tied up in container trucks, and then they were gradually led to the Mukamira camp to be killed. According to the witness, the bodies were transported in the same trucks towards the forest of Nyungwe in a place that they called “Icyokezo” (Kinyarwanda word meaning “grill”, to be burned there.

The former DMI agent affirmed that Nyungwe forest was useful in 1997 and 1998, as the place where they burned the bodies of the people who were killed all over Rwanda. According to him, at Kugiti Kinyoni (near Kigali) there were feared barriers. ‘’People from Ruhengeri, Kibuye, Gitarama and Butare were arrested; we looked at the origin of the person and [their] facial characteristics. We chose especially those who still had the strength to fight, it was called” guca Imbaraga Abahutu” (to discourage Hutus)”. He affirmed that this climate of terror had ended up persuading people to not take taxis because once inside, one was not sure to return, especially those who were coming from Gisenyi and Ruhengeri did not cross any barrier. They were stopped and led to camp Kami, a camp that, according to him, shelteredin its cellar a prison where people were kept before being killed. “All these massacres were coordinated and supervised by Jacques Nziza”, he said. To transport the bodies of Kami camp towards the Nyungwe forest, the witness affirmed that they used a blue Benz mark truck plundered in Congo.

Massive use of poison

The witness also evoked the cases of assassinations through poison. “There were also people who were poisoned. The market of poison was in the hands of the Indians, it is them who imported it to Rwanda to sell it to the DMI. This poison was often injected by syringe. The poison was generally used to assassinate known people of whom it was impossible to eliminate in the mass without drawing attention. This is why it were the tops graded, like captain Mutiganda and captain Burabyo who personally occupied themselves to use this method. The person to be eliminated was invited to a meeting or was approached in a festival; one waited until he was inattentive to put the poison in his glass”, affirmed the witness who said to have been in charge of a mission of eliminating a colleague himself:

«One day I was given poison to put in the milk of Sankara who was in prison at that time. I did not do it because he was a man of integrity. In his songs, he defended the rights of soldiers. . They did not know that I had not poisoned Sankara’s milk, and said to him: “you’re really lucky, you ingested poison and you’re still alive’’. »

The massacres of Tutsi refugees at Mudende

The former DMI officer also returned to the massacres of Tutsi refugees from 1959 who returned to Rwanda in 1995 after 30 years of exile in Congo. The witness was shocked that Paul Kagame and Nziza decided to eliminate them and attribute their death to the Hutu rebels (abacengezi) from Congo, while in this period, the eastern border of Congo was under the control of the new Rwandan government

Indeed, these refugees upon their return to Rwanda were installed at Mudende, not far from the university that bears the same name, and in Nkamira. “The massacres proceeded at night, in the morning all the soldiers who were guarding the camp had been recalled.” The General Munyakazi who directed brigade 211 of Gisenyi, and to who the victims reached out during the events, wanted to go to the place of the massacres to intervene but he was prevented from doing so because those who were in charge of the assassinations were the men of Kagame who came from Kigali. However, the majority of the guards who are close to Paul Kagame comprise out of sons of these assassinated people. “These guards do not know it, this is why I deliver this testimony”, declared the former agent of the DMI. “At that time, several military personnel including the relatives of the murdered that night, wanted to demonstrate, but they had to resign and return to their camps after general Kagame threatened to liquidate them all».

On October 1st , 2010, the massacres of the Hutu refugees in the Democratic Republic of Congo between 1996 and 2002 generated a report of investigation of the High Commission of the United Nations on the Human Rights, known under the name of Mapping Report. According to this document, these massacres could, if proven in front of a competent jurisdiction, be described as genocide.

Translated by Clémentine Kwitonda

Jambonews.net

I was fortunate to have met and known Comandante Hugo Chavez, and just like any good friend, he always kept-in touch. He was always committed to ending oppression in Africa-particularly; Congo, Uganda,Sudan and Rwanda. He once called me late at night and told me that “do you remember what we discussed, don’t change the system using arms, the Yankees will finish you off before you even capture a single town”.  I could say that, his advice transformed me from a radical leftist anarchist to a 21st century leftist activist.

“We have assumed the commitment to direct the Bolivarian Revolution towards socialism and to contribute to the socialist path, with a new socialism, a socialism of the 21st century, which is based in solidarity, in fraternity, in love, in justice, in liberty, and in equality” Comandante Chavez in mid 2006:

Comandante Chavez was a humanitarian leader, who was committed to fighting against the traditional political class-just like in most countries, they’re only interested in protecting their prosperous positions, while denying the masses their rightful share of wealth and political participation.

To be frank, Comandante Chavez was also a champion for the forgotten masses of Latin America and the world. Thus, he corrected the power and wealth imbalances that had long plagued Latin American indigenous communities and was always a good listener when you articulated to him the suffering of African people.

After Venezuela gained its independence from Spain, the people expected there to be a major change in Venezuela. However, the ruling elites returned to power and establish a system even more repressive than the one which prevailed during the colonial period. As a result, people longed for the return of Bolivar, but since he had already died, his ideas of freedom and equality became the people’s last resort and creed.

After Venezuelans becoming tired of forty years rule of two parties as we we see in western ponzy models of dictatorships in USA and Britain ie. the Republican, Democrat, Labour, and Conservative parties-the Venezuelan masses unanimously rejected Accion Democratica (AD) and Comite de Organizacion Politica Electoral Independiente (COPEI).

The leaders of these two parties had ruined Venezuela, particularly  in the 1980s and 1990s, by being involved in numerous corruption scandals and  adopting policies which only benefited the wealthiest sectors of the population. And second, the shortcomings of neo-liberal policies, particularly cuts in social spending and privatization, augmented inequality in Venezuela, placing more than 70% of the populace in abject poverty.

The Venezuelan masses needed a new way to get them out of the savage Anglo-capitalism, nor were they for real-bureaucratic socialism, or the Utopian socialism, but a new  21st century socialism that had to be fresh, like the one Simon Bolivar constantly aspired for and it should reflect the values and ethics that Venezuelans have built in over a century.

However, this did not sound good music to Anglo Capitalists savages in Washington, they saw Chavez as a power-hungry dictator who had disregarded the rule of law and the democratic process in the name of Bolivar’s ideals.

Thus, they accused Comandante Chavez for leading Venezuela to the abyss by denying Oil profits to the multinationals and handing them to the dirty poor to build homes,schools,hospitals,etc.

However, the Washington savages failed to realise that under Comandante Hugo Chavez;

There were no mass executions or concentration camps in Venezuela,  Civil Society had not disappeared, as it did in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Rwanda,etc. There was no systematic state-sponsored terrorism that leaves scores of dead civilians in-other countries, as it has happened in Congo,Rwanda,Uganda,Somalia,Sudan, etc. And there was certainly no efficiently repressive and  bureaucratic secret security services. Thus, one could still find an active and vociferous opposition, elections, a feisty press, and a vibrant and organised civil society.

I could go on..and on, but as Comandante Hugo Chavez always said, “keep it simple”.

So what’s next for Venezuela?

The world always makes a few men that keep generations after generations admiring  their work for  humanity, and with no doubt they become icons. Comandante Hugo Chavez  has earned that place in our history.

He courageously and unselfishly fought for the poor and the oppressed citizens of this world. He was a true human being that will continue to be admired around the world-thus, his popularity will make him a living legend.

Will Comandante Hugo Chavez’s revolution die with him?

What we might see, is that many aspiring caring politicians will emulate his model, as its the nearest thing we have to creating a justified society in terms of wealth distribution.

Also the  future electoral process system in Venezuela is likely to favor a candidate with Comandante Chavez’s model  of a fair distribution of wealth and not Anglo Capitalistic Savagery of greed.

“I swear before you, I swear to my parents’ God and to them, I swear to my honor and I swear to my homeland, that I will not allow my arm to rest, not my soul, until I have broken the chains that oppress us!!” (Bolivar).

The loss of Comandante Hugo Chavez is so hard to face, I just wanted to hide, go somewhere and escape! But death is something, we all must go through!

On behalf of Africa, I send Comandante Hugo Chavez’s family and all Venezuelans our condolences during your time of grief
May God bless his soul!

Joram jojo

Viva Revolucion!!

Great Photos of Hugo Chavez here:

http://freeuganda.wordpress.com/2013/01/01/reflection-on-socialism/

This infighting has not surprised some of us that understand the characteristic of M23 rebels and the social fabric of Congo.

The criminal out-fit is composed of opportunistic characters that are more royal to Uganda and Rwanda, while another faction that is composed of mainly illiterates like Sultani Makenga, are victims of their own illiteracy. Thus, they’ve become slaves to Bosco Ntaganda and are ideologically bankrupt to differentiate between a just cause from a banditry enterprise.

Having lost face, now the handlers of the M23 criminal out-fit are trying to save face by toppling one of their own. However, Criminal Bosco Ntaganda the terminator is still the de-factor leader of the criminal out-fit-while Paul kagame and Yoweri Museveni are their undisputed godfathers.

What is the future of Bishop Jean-Marie RUNIGA Lugereo?

I doubt if he will ever go back to church to work as a Bishop-a Bishop that fails to help thousands of displaced sheep and rushes to Goma to kill and loot banks is a disgrace to society.

However, this does not surprise as the name  Runiga in  all KIHUTU sub languages namely: Kinyabwisha, Kisanza,Kifumbira, Kinyarwanda, Kirundi, and Kinyamulenge;  Runiga means the  strangler and Kuniga is to kill by squeezing the throat so as to choke or suffocate.

The disgraced Bishop has amassed a fortune for himself, and his very likely to hide in Uganda were he has invested a fortune in real estate business. Will he be welcomed by Ugandans? Of-course yes, they worship thieves and adore them.

We will also  witness more infighting among M23 criminal cartel- we might end up seeing Congolese Tutsi that are mainly composed of Dictator Paul Kagame’s Protection Brigade joining-in on the side of their Congolese brothers, because Criminal Paul Kagame has already put Sultani Makenga and 32 other people within M23, on a  death list. Thus, this is just the ice-bug of the nasty stuff to come.

The Democratic Republic of Congo might be a forgotten country especially when it comes to human rights abuses, but the resolve of its people and friends is amazing.The world has been misled by Criminal Paul Kagame’s PR machine that Congo is a failed state and its people are hopeless.

This country that serial criminals from Rwanda have tried to bring down to its knees, has the most talented people on planet earth. The culture is so rich that you can’t compare it with other nations-especially with what has been happening for the last 16 years- 8 million innocent lives have been lost and the world did nothing. 

The Democratic republic of Congo has the best designers, musicians, and Artists on the African continent. In fact, the inventor of the first African electronic tablet the Way-C, Verone Mankou is congolese but resides in the Congo Republic [ehh, still Congo]- Its only Congolese music that is still authentic with the African flavor, played in most African homes.

We’ve been getting very many complaints from our readers -that what happened to our beauty catalogs, have you lost the touch? Many keep asking. We’re very Sorry if we never took good care of you, we won’t be occupied with other content and forget about you. Very Many apologies.

We shall keep the content in you favorite style.

Enjoy what is coming soon!!!!!!!!!!

Do you sometimes suffer from that longing for an African beauty Utopia? I think you deserve a treat to remind you that its there and plentiful!  We are bringing back our saucy catalogs . As always, these beauties are scattered around Africa and Diaspora.

The Virunga mountains vegetation could change if not protected

We are Recruiting Manga Army

Very many apologies to all fans of this Blog for not updating it regularly-not posted anything for a very long-time, I promise this year, to post great content.

The famous Virunga Mountains Gorillas will feature a lot, and they will be brought to life. The History of Bwisha Kingdom and Banyabwisha will be told, the Batwa plight will also be addressed on a regular basis.

The Kinshasa city and Congolese comic project is still being developed. However, this project is to extend to Uganda,Rwanda,Angola,Burundi, and Tanzania. The reason for this, is very simple.

When constructing a city, you have to plan the sort of infrastructure that will support it-as I mentioned before, I’m using the actual locations(measurements) and I’ve looked at the impact on the environment,and demography. The main purpose for this project is to set a precedent using creativity as a methodology for creating peace and development in the great lakes area

Having fan and interacting with characters is crucial to this project

I’ve always asked myself, what went wrong in North kivu that has turned communities into monsters?? I remember as a child, when I would leave Uganda(boarding school) for holidays in Congo-DRC, the moment I arrived in Bunagana-people in Rutshuru knew that I was in town. I always found myself a subject of interest from Hutu,Tutsi and Twa.  Our home always had Tutsi, Hutu and Twa visitors coming in and going-out. Its when I would go back to Uganda or visit Rwanda that I would encounter the differences, as I was always a victim of profile harassment.

Linguistics have studied the Abahutu mother tongue and languages of many other African people in eastern, central and southern Africa. They have discovered that these people shared with Abahutu the expression “ntu” when relating to a human being including Swahili “muTU”, Shona (muNHU”), Bemba, Nyanja,Ndebele, Zulu, Xosa, etc.

Many scientists are now studying in-depth the hypothesis that Bahutu are actually one of the greatest ethnic “Abantu” (Bantus) and that they are the major components of the Bantu people. These findings would be useful in Congo-DRC as discussed below.

Abahutu originally were part of the great empire that extended from actual south-west Uganda to Eastern DRC, to Rwanda, to Burundi and to north-western Tanzania. This empire was divided into kingdoms that were administered and led by the “umwami” (resulting in the word umwami meaning a king). In some parts of Eastern DRC, the descendents of the “umwami” are still leading the Abahutu community.
The Abahutu kingdom was kind of independent. One would say in today’s language that there was federalism in the Abahutu Empire. The most close kingdoms to the Congolese abahutu organizational structure were the Hutu kingdoms in North-Rwanda (in the Bushiru, Murera, Bukamba, Buhoma, Bugoyi) and in South-West Uganda (in the Bufumbira). All these kingdoms spoke the same language. There are three hypotheses on the language that was spoken by Abahutu originally. Some schools think it is “kihutu”, others say it is “Kinyarwanda” (the actual Rwandan national language), and others stipulate that it is “kibantu”.

Linguistics agree that in the African philosophy the language is named after the kind of tribe who speaks it. Thus Kihunde is spoken by Bahunde ( in Masisi-eastern Congo-DRC), Kinande by Banande(eastern Congo-DRC), Kikuyu by Kikuyu people(Kenya), Kikongo by Bakongo (western DRC& Congo-Brazzaville & Angola), Tshiluba by Baluba (in Kassai and Katanga-DRC), kibemba by Babemba (DRC & Zambia), Kinyanja by Banyanja (Zambia), Kishona by Bashona (in Zimbabwe) , Kindebele by Bandebele(in Zimbabwe), Kizulu by BaZulu (in South-Africa), Kirega by Barega (in Eastern DRC),Kishi (Mashi) by Bashi (in Eastern DRC),etc. Based on the roots of the word Abantu discussed above, most of linguistics and scientists agree that the original language of Bahutu people is “Kihutu” (i.e. Kibantu spoken by Abahutu). Seemingly the Kihutu is the language spoken by the Bahutu people (in Eastern DRC).

Linguistics however identify numerous horizontal variations within the kihutu language. Thus depending on the region, the kihutu acquires the name of the place where it is spoken and most of the time is “renamed” after that place. Kihutu in Rusthuru is commonly known as “kinyabwisha-from the Bwisha county-Eastern DRC and Kisanza from the Busanza County/Rutshuru eastern Congo-DRC. In ancient Rwanda the kihutu was called gishiru-from bushiru-northern Rwanda, kirera from Burera-northern Rwanda, kigoyi from Bugoyi -northern Rwanda. Latter in Rwanda the kihutu was called “kinyarwanda”-from actual Rwanda, “Kirundi”-from actual Burundi.

Thus Kinyarwanda and Kirundi are a mere horizontal variation of the original kihutu language. However these two languages became national languages in both Rwanda and Burundi and underwent an advanced academic transformation and enrichment compared to the kihutu spoken in Eastern DRC or South-west Uganda. It thus resulted in vertical variation in different Kihutu dialects (horizontal variances).This sets a vertical variation between the Kirundi and Kinyarwanda on one hand and the other Bahutu languages in Eastern and south-west Uganda. The Tutsi and Twa spoke Kihutu. It seems these two ethnic groups lost their original mother tongue due to the principle of majority and integration observed in communities.
Following a couple of consortium in Congo it was discovered that other Congolese people tend to marginalize Abahutu because they feel they are not Congolese, they are called “Hutus” (identical to the Hutus of Rwanda and Burundi) and are identified as Rwandophons (people speaking kinyarwanda-a national language of another country). The fact that Kinyarwanda is the national language of Rwanda makes it difficult. Congolese feel people whose mother tongue is Kinyarwanda are merely “Rwandese” (have Rwandan citizenship).

This is a wrong school of thought and the Congolese government has to work hard to educate all the Mobutu generation and the subsequent generations about the right school of thought. Kinyarwanda is just a horizontal variation of the Abantu original language that was rendered a national language in Rwanda by the Rwandan Hutu regime soon after independence of Rwanda in 1962.

In recent research scientists stipulate that it would be beneficial to the Congolese government to draw a policy to emphasize the fact that “Abahutu are Congolese not transplants-aliens, have the rights in DRC as any other citizen of DRC and speak “Kihutu”. The Kihutu should be known amongst the 332 Congolese dialects as a language spoken by Abahutu people. Thus the false umbilical cord mistakenly linking Abahutu to Rwandese would be eradicated from the minds of Congolese people taken in hostage by the Mobutu controversial rules on citizenship. Reviving the Kihutu in the Congo -DRC would justify the essence of multiple studies done by linguistics on African languages.

Bwisha did exist prior to European colonisation, it was a politically  economical and socially developed than Rwanda, It had its customs, and was a sovereign nation.
Thus, Banyabwisha  have their traditional values  which are based on their language, own land( territory of 34,000 km2),  Customs , family structures, marital status, Economic, Political and Religion, which can not be the subject of controversy with other people in the region of North Kivu.

The Belgian colonialsits have distorted the truth and termed Banyabwisha as a tribe based in Kivu, and  purely an autonomous hutu  principality.
The last direct descendant of the Bwisha king before turning it into a principality in 1920 was Umwami Daniel  Ndeze Rugabo II, a customary leader, that is to say having jurisdiction  on Bwisha  principality. Thus, Mwami(king) was demoted to Umwami(chief).

In the mindset of the Banyabwisha,  the Mwami was much considered to be incomparable- a center around which all Bwisha life evolved , coordinated all activities  such as; political, economic, cultural, religious, and social. The removal of the king, something that had never happened in the history of Bwisha was considered a curse and would haunt  the land in years to come.
‘If you want to know where you’re going, you have to first know where you come from, ” West African proverb. 

joram jojo