This last Saturday, on Congolese national television, during the “Plateau Special” program, the Congolese army (FARDC) spokesman Gen. Sylvain Ekenge delivered a hate-filled message targeting Tutsi women.
“Marrying a Tutsi woman; one must be extremely cautious,” the fellow declared.
That single sentence was a window into the soul of the regime of Felix Tshisekedi; a regime where genocidal ideology ferments at the highest levels of power.
Someone of Ekenge’s rank only echoes the voice of his master. His words are a direct reflection of what Tshisekedi permits, encourages, and quietly commands behind closed doors.
Ekenge’s statement has followed other same rhetoric of Nzangi, Bitakwira, Misare and other senior officials who have built their careers on weaponizing anti-Tutsi sentiment.
Their message is consistent and coordinated. It is meant to dehumanize an entire community and justify the violence unleashed against them.
Consequently, across eastern DRC, Tutsi communities have endured horrors that speak for themselves. They have been hunted, killed, raped and cannibalized. Those who survive flee toward neighboring countries, carrying the trauma of a violence designed to erase them. This suffering is the direct result of a coalition Tshisekedi assembled, combining FARDC with the genocidal FDLR, Wazalendo thugs and Burundian FDNB. Together, they ride on a shared hatred of Tutsi people.
The regime has pretended to distance itself from Ekenge’s statement, but it is too late and futile. The mask has fallen once again. The world can clearly see a “government” that has embraced a genocidal ideology, one that emulates the darkest days of Habyarimana’s Rwanda.
It is now urgent to accept that Tshisekedi and his genocidal project cannot coexist with a region that seeks peace. The great lakes region has suffered too much to allow this putrid agenda to continue.
The crisis is not hidden anymore. Ekenge spoke aloud what Tshisekedi’s regime believes. And when a “government” rots from the head, it must be removed before it poisons everyone beneath it.