Early this week, villages of Congolese Tutsi pastoralists in Kilorirwe in Masisi were engulfed in smoke, and the crying of victims after a coalition of FARDC, FDLR, Wazalendo, Mai-Mai descended on the localities, burnt houses, stole hundreds of cattle, and other atrocities.
Kilorirwe was taken over by the Burundi EACRF contingent after the M23 withdrew in compliance with the Luanda and Nairobi peace roadmaps. Incidentally, before handing over the territory, the M23 specifically obtained guarantees from the Burundi contingent that they would protect people and their property.
To hoodwink the scrutiny of verification mechanisms, the Kinshasa regime has changed tactics where armed FARDC soldiers shed off their uniforms and attack under the new banner of ‘Wazalendo’, alongside their close allies of FDLR, Nyatura and Mai-Mai.
While all these atrocities are happening, the so-called Human Rights Watch, the international media and the International Community are obsessed with their agenda-motivated mudslinging of the M23 rather than addressing Tshisekedi regime-inspired criminality that is tantamount to a genocide targeting Congolese Tutsi communities.
How does the world expect the M23 fighters to respect the Luanda and Nairobi peace accords when a genocide is being committed against their people with impunity?
Also, when will the International Community take concrete action against Kinshasa and its allied criminal and terrorist armed militias?