URU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 203: Henvendelse af 3/5-21 fra Patrick Mutambo om folkemord i Den demokratiske republik Congo

Udenrigsudvalget 2020-21
URU Alm.del Bilag 203
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AN SOS LETTER OF THE BANYAMULENGE COMMUNITY TO THE

SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE UNITED NATIONS DENOUNCING AN

ETHNIC CLEANSING IN FINAL STAGES

H.E. António Guterres,

Secretary-General

United Nations

New York, NY

26 April 2021

CC/:

Re:

H.E. Félix Tshisekedi, President of the DRC & Chairperson of the

African Union;

H.E. Bintou Keita, SR and Head of MONUSCO;

H.E. Yoweri Museveni, President of the Republic of Uganda;

H. E. Paul Kagame, President of the Republic of Rwanda;

H.E. Évariste Ndayishimiye, President of the Republic of Burundi;

H.E. Uhuru Kenyetta, President of the Republic of Kenya and

Chairperson of the Summit of Heads of State;

H.E. Moussa Faki Mahamat, Chairperson of the AU Commission;

H.E. Joseph Biden, President of the United States of America;

H.E. Charles Michel, President of the EU Council;

H.E. Madame Ursula Von Der Leyen, President, EU Commission ;

H.E. President Nyusi, President of Mozambique and Chairperson of

SADC;

H.E. João Lourenço, President of the Republic of Angola and

Chairperson of the ICGLR;

H.E. Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights;

H.E. Alice Wairimu Nderitu, Special Adviser of the Secretary-

General on the Prevention of Genocide;

Ms Fatou Bensouda, ICC Prosecutor;

Ethnic Cleansing of the Banyamulenge Community in the

Hauts-Plateaux

of South Kivu

Province in the DRC

Dear Secretary-General,

Faced with inaction to our previous warnings, through letters dated 27 April 2020 and 29 June 2020,

on the siege of the Banyamulenge community by a coalition of Mai Mai militias and foreign armed

groups with the complicity of elements of the Congolese military, we are writing this letter, with

deep sense of sorry and desperation, to ring an ultimate alarm bell on the unfolding ethnic cleansing

in final stages targeting our community in the entire

hauts plateaux

of South Kivu.

After four years of concerted attacks by a coalition of Mai Mai militias and foreign armed groups

targeting the Banyamulenge Community in the Bijombo, Mikenke, Minembwe and surrounding

areas, the northern territory of the

moyens

and

hauts plateaux

stretching from Katobwe and

Kahololo to Rurambo was recently the new theatre of attacks that appear to be succeeding in

cleansing the area of any Banyamulenge presence. As of the writing of this letter, the area has been

nearly totally cleansed of any Banyamulenge presence. Members of this community have either

been killed, forced to flee or are still hiding in the bushes, tracked by the assailants. This latest wave

URU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 203: Henvendelse af 3/5-21 fra Patrick Mutambo om folkemord i Den demokratiske republik Congo

AN SOS LETTER OF THE BANYAMULENGE COMMUNITY TO THE

SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE UNITED NATIONS DENOUNCING AN

ETHNIC CLEANSING IN FINAL STAGES

of attacks has created a humanitarian disaster whereby those fleeing the attacks, women, men,

children, old and young, are forced to walk more than 50 km in inhospitable environments with no

assistance and a constant fear of extermination. Many are stranded between Lemera and Bwegera

with no assistance and limited security guarantees.

The Katobwe-Kahololo-Rurambo area had largely remained peaceful and largely spared from

systematic attacks. This relative peace was a result of a constant dialogue between local Bafuliiru,

Banyamulenge and Banyindu communities who had vowed to preserve peace and good relations

that had characterised their interactions for generations. However, due to a rising wave of hate

speech and an increased firepower of the attacking Mai Mai and Red-Tabara forces from Burundi,

that fragile peace was broken since mid-March 2021. The systematic and coordinated nature of the

recent attacks clearly show that the openly professed goal of cleansing the

hauts plateaux

of any

Banyamulenge presence and kicking members of this community out of the borders of the DRC is

largely being achieved.

On 16 March, Mai Mai Ilunga and Red-Tabara launched attacks in the Kahololo area, killing 4

people, including an 82-year-old woman, burning 3 villages (Kageregeri, Kahundwe, Rwinkubo).

Attacks intensified in the beginning of this month of April when the attackers burned the villages

of Mataba and Goshen on 9 April 2021. Several other villages including Marungu 1 and 2,

Murambi, Gitembe, Rukuka, Gahusi and Bijige (Bibangwa) were attacked and burned the following

day. On 21 April 2021, four other villages namely Nyakamungu, Kageregeri 2, Mugono and

Birindiro were attacked and burned. Finally, on 23 April, 16 villages that had served as a refuge for

the fleeing and distressed Banyamulenge population were destroyed in a single day pushing

survivors on the slopes of the

hauts plateaux

towards the Ruzizi plain where most of them are

currently stationed in inhospitable conditions, fatigued, hungry and in constant fear of being

exterminated. The latest attacks have claimed several dozens of lives and the whereabouts of many

members of the community are still uncertain since those who could not flee have either been killed

or are trapped in their hiding bushes, with retreating chances of survival, in an environment where

they are surrounded by their attackers. The survivors who have fled the entire area have lost all their

possessions, including herds of cattle and small livestock which were looted by the attacking Mai

Mai and Red-Tabara groups.

While recent attacks were aimed at destroying the Katobwe-Kahololo-Rurambo area that had

largely remained safe, the ethnic cleansing nature of the unfolding tragedy is evidenced by the fact

that attacks have not stopped in the Bijombo-Mikenke-Minembwe area. Since the beginning of

April, attacks have increased in the latter area in circumstances that clearly show a high degree of

complicity between the Congolese army deployed in the area (as denounced in our previous

communications) and Mai Mai militias. For instance, on 1 April, Mai Mai attacks were launched

on the villages of Kabingo, Masha, Monyi, Rutigita and others in the Minembwe area. Instead of

securing the attacked population, the Congolese army attacked the besieged villagers, killing 5

people, including teachers and students. Similarly, on 9 April, three young people were killed in the

Bibokoboko area by soldiers of the Congolese army in circumstances that have not been clarified,

absent any official investigation in the matter.

Mr. Secretary General,

The above-described recent dynamics clearly show that, the inaction that followed our previous

warnings has emboldened those who have vowed to cleanse the

hauts plateaux

and the entire DRC

URU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 203: Henvendelse af 3/5-21 fra Patrick Mutambo om folkemord i Den demokratiske republik Congo

AN SOS LETTER OF THE BANYAMULENGE COMMUNITY TO THE

SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE UNITED NATIONS DENOUNCING AN

ETHNIC CLEANSING IN FINAL STAGES

of any Banyamulenge presence. We are conscious of the fact that the inaction is often justified by

a misguided reading of what is happening on the ground. Similarly to the Rwandan context some

27 years ago, a dominant reading of what is happening in the

hauts plateaux

often captures the

events in terms of inter-ethnic conflicts. Instead of empathizing with the Banyamulenge civilians

under sustained attacks from several local armed groups recruiting from ethnic communities

(Bembe, Fuliiru, Vira and Nyindu) acting in close collaboration with Red-Tabara, with documented

complicities of elements of the Congolese military and public officials, several reports on the

conflicts, informed by disinformation campaigns, often blame the victims. Even UN investigations

on the ground have often displayed partial or misguided readings of the realities due to involved

actors’

limited engagement with the Banyamulenge community. In a characteristic tendency to

portray the events under ethnic lenses and “balance” the blame, reports have failed to give due

attention to the plight of a small Banyamulenge community assailed from all sides, both at the local

and national levels.

The fact that a largely outnumbered Banyamulenge minority community is undergoing this ordeal

in this month of April when the world remembers the genocide that targeted the Tutsi of Rwanda

with sad episodes of international failures in places like Bisesero but also in other contexts such as

Srebrenica

is quite ironic and displays

the international community’s

inability to learn from past

mistakes. While the

hauts plateaux

area is difficult to access, the world cannot, again, hide behind

a lack of knowledge or information on this avoidable tragedy. In addition to our past warnings on

the foreseeability of what is currently happening absent decisive action to prevent the tragedy,

MONUSCO has a sizable presence in the broad area and, dynamics leading up to the current

situation, including sustained anti-Banyamulenge hate speech have been documented by the United

Nations Joint Human Rights Office (UNJHRO). MONUSCO’s

units on the grounds have been

passive spectators of the unfolding tragedy. The force has occasionally engaged in what is described

by survivors as photo opportunity stunts, such as the visit to Kahololo and Kitembe on 23 April

2021 when attacks resulting in the destruction of some 16 villages (described above) were taking

place less than 10 km from the MONUSCO position.

Moreover, to our knowledge, neither the Congolese state, nor the international community have

taken steps to sanction state actors and prominent public officials fuelling violence in the area. In

our previous communications, we denounced the complicity of individual DRC officers deployed

in the

hauts plateaux

area in the attacks that target the Banyamulenge but nothing has been done to

remedy the situation. The intensification of attacks on the Banyamulenge in recent days is a product

of an increased support that civilian officials and elements of the military on the ground lend to the

attackers, under current circumstances where such support is not sanctioned. Even more

paradoxically, some individuals involved behind the scenes in fuelling the flames of hate and

violence have been rewarded for their actions. For instance, Justin Bitakwira, a public figure and

former minister from the Bafuliiru community is on record calling the attacking Mai Mai militia

(several from his community) his “boys” who will be rewarded

if and when he is in public office.

Similarly, incendiary declarations by high profile individuals such as Martin Fayulu who stated that

there was no such a thing as the Banyamulenge in the DRC and that the Minembwe area was under

foreign occupation, with his supporters vowing to liberate it, he is still regularly welcomed by

members of the international community who contribute to the legitimation of his platform. Just as

some members of the international community insisted on the participation of the extremist CDR

party in the unity government in Rwanda in the1993-1994 period in Rwanda, lack of denunciation

of extremist ethnic politics is one of the conducive factors for the unfolding tragedy.

URU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 203: Henvendelse af 3/5-21 fra Patrick Mutambo om folkemord i Den demokratiske republik Congo

AN SOS LETTER OF THE BANYAMULENGE COMMUNITY TO THE

SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE UNITED NATIONS DENOUNCING AN

ETHNIC CLEANSING IN FINAL STAGES

The final stages of ethnic cleansing of the Banyamulenge in the

hauts plateaux

are taking place at

a time when DRC president holds the rotating presidency of the African Union. It is not surprising

therefore that continental bodies have remained silent on the plight of the Banyamulenge. Despite

numerous “never again” pledges, regional

authorities have failed to take decisive action, to prevent

another tragedy of genocidal proportions from materializing. The Banyamulenge seem to have been

sacrificed at the altar of geopolitical agenda. In view of the recent waves of attacks, Congolese

authorities’ approaches to addressing the crisis in the

hauts plateaux

through intra and inter-

community dialogues combined with military interventions

have largely been unsuccessful.

In spite of past failings, we remain hopeful that it is not too late to act decisively to alleviate the

suffering of the Banyamulenge community in the DRC and, reiterate our previous requests for the

United Nations to:

•

Take urgent and decisive action to stop the killings, the looting and, the ongoing, largely

successful campaign of ethnic cleansing of the Banyamulenge in the DRC;

Provide urgently needed humanitarian assistance and protection, through MONUSCO and

other UN agencies, to displaced populations scattered across the

hauts plateaux

and the

Ruzizi plain. Assistance and protection should build on past tragic experiences such as the

Gatumba Massacre in August 2004, by guaranteeing effective protection to displaced

population and shielding it from further attacks;

Decisively engage the Congolese authorities in pursuing accountability for individuals

bearing responsibility for atrocities committed against civilians, including members of

domestic and foreign armed groups as well as elements of the Congolese armed forces;

Promote peacebuilding and security strategies that are likely to provide equal protection for

all, foster peaceful responses to conflicts, incentivize disarmament of combatants from

various groups and re-build confidence between communities;

Engage regional countries, in ensuring that non-domestic factors of tensions in the

hauts

plateaux,

including the presence of foreign armed groups, are properly addressed once and

for all.

•

We renew our hope, Mr Secretary General, that the United Nations, under your leadership and its

presence on the ground, will play a more proactive role in protecting a displaced Banyamulenge

population in distress and ensuring a return to stability and peaceful coexistence between

communities in South Kivu and the rest of the DRC.

Yours sincerely

Ms. Adele Kibasumba

Banyamulenge Community in the USA

President (Mahoro Peace Association)

Mr. Charles Mukiza

Banyamulenge Community in the DRC

President (Mutualité Kinshsasa)

Félix Rubogora

President of Gakondo Coordinating Committee