Under Félix Tshisekedi’s rule a dangerous coalition comprised of the FARDC (Armed Forces of the DRC), FDLR (Rwandan genocidaires), Wazalendo militias, and the Burundian army has systematically persecuted the Congolese Tutsi community with utter impunity.
In a horrifying recent example in Uvira, Banyamulenge civilians, Congolese Tutsi and even Tutsi police officers were deliberately arrested, beaten, tortured, and, in some cases, killed. Their only “crime” was their Tutsi identity. The perpetrators of these crimes were the Wazalendo militias, FDLR, and FARDC, operating with the full complicity of Burundian soldiers deployed on Congolese soil.
This is not an isolated incident. It has become a ritual of violence, one that is sustained by silence and denial at the highest levels of power.
While these atrocities continue, the Congolese government has deployed a well-orchestrated propaganda campaign to whitewash the truth. Led by Communication Minister Patrick Muyaya, the regime continues to deny that any targeted persecution exists. Their justification is that no one group, specifically not the Tutsi, could be persecuted in a nation of over 450 ethnic groups.
Adding fuel to the fire, figures like Justin Bitakwira openly spew hate speech without consequence. On public platforms like Bosolo Politik TV, Bitakwira has called Tutsis criminals, untrustworthy, even going so far as to claim they were created by evil. He denies the very existence of Congolese Tutsis, branding them as foreign infiltrators from Rwanda who must be expelled.
This is incitement. And it’s working. Tutsi lives are being shattered, families destroyed, and a community is being pushed to the brink of erasure.
Yet the world remains silent. The international community, which is so quick to invoke human rights in other crises, watches passively as Congolese Tutsi are scapegoated, vilified, and murdered.
It is evident that Congolese Tutsi are outcasts in their own country. They are citizens in name only, denied the basic protections of their government, and abandoned by the global community.
How long will this brutal persecution be tolerated? How many more voices must be silenced before the world finally listens?