If there is one thing that the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) can rely on, it is the world’s boundless ability to look the other way. The Congolese people, subjected to unspeakable horrors for decades, have been left to fend for themselves while those who claim to champion human rights and democracy conveniently forget their existence.

The international community’s response to the crisis in North and South Kivu provinces is not just negligence—it is betrayal.

There is something almost magical about the way the world has chosen to see the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Not as a place with a government, citizens, and sovereignty, but as a perpetual victim of outside forces, forever blameless, forever exploited, forever calling upon the gods of the so-called "international community" to rescue it from itself.

There is also something equally fairy-tale about how Rwanda fits into this great illusion. How dare Rwanda take charge of its destiny? How dare the country prioritize its security without asking for permission?

How dare Rwanda decide that a dignified, peaceful, and self-sufficient country is something it deserves? No, the world prefers a different kind of leadership—the kind that abdicates responsibility, waits for external saviors, and sells its dignity to the highest bidder.

To understand why some of the so-called global powers refuse to acknowledge the reality on the ground, one must accept a painful truth: their ignorance is not accidental.

It is a deliberate choice. A refusal to face the facts, to confront the root causes of the conflict, to acknowledge the inconvenient history that ties the fate of the DRC to its neighbors and to its own rulers.

The West would rather indulge in performative outrage than examine how its policies, its greed, and its blind support for failed leadership have condemned millions to suffering.

The European Union and the United Nations will draft report after report blaming Rwanda for the DRC’s failures, but they will not demand accountability from Kinshasa.

Why? Because the real crime in their eyes is not Congo’s collapse but Rwanda’s refusal to collapse along with it.

A Country led by ghosts, advised by mercenaries, and protected by genocidaires

Take a look at the DRC today. A country led by a president who once declared he would "crush” the M23 rebels but now suddenly remembers the Luanda and Nairobi peace processes.

A government that shouts "Rwandan aggression” while simultaneously paying foreign mercenaries to shoot at its own citizens.

A nation where genocidaires—actual perpetrators of the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi—are given uniforms and state support. A military so poorly managed that unpaid soldiers defect faster than their weapons jam.

And yet, the grand international narrative remains unchanged. No questions asked. No accountability demanded. The world watches as:

Congolese citizens are massacred by their own government’s forces, FDLR militias, and foreign mercenaries. Silence.

The DRC’s army collapses under its own corruption, and yet the blame somehow shifts to Rwanda.

Ministers openly call for ethnic cleansing of Congolese Tutsi, leading to mob violence and cannibalism. But, inexplicably, there is no emergency United Nations Security Council session, no threats of sanctions, no outraged op-eds from Western human rights organizations.

The DRC’s leaders invite four different foreign armies into their country, yet it is Rwanda that is labeled the ‘aggressor.’

It is an elaborate performance of selective blindness. A global effort to ignore the root causes of the conflict in North Kivu, because to acknowledge them would be to admit an uncomfortable truth: the DRC’s leaders are the architects of their own misery.

Rwanda’s crime? Self-determination

How dare Rwanda refuse to play its assigned role in the tragedy of Central Africa? How dare it protect its people without first asking for permission? How dare it believe that a peaceful, dignified country is something it deserves?

The crime that Rwanda has committed is not in the DRC. Rwanda’s crime is proving that an African nation can rise from the ashes without begging at the feet of former colonial masters.

That it can secure its borders, pursue development, and reject the politics of victimhood that so many are encouraged to embrace.

And for this, Rwanda must be punished. Because what is truly encouraged is the kind of leadership that abandons responsibility, that calls on everyone else but itself to solve its problems.

This is the leadership model that is celebrated in the DRC. A government that has outsourced every function of the state, except repression.

An army that has not been paid, mercenaries rebranded as paramilitaries, and genocidaires given free rein to roam and kill.

A President who, instead of governing, openly calls for the overthrow of his neighbor’s government. Ministers who use state platforms to incite ethnic cleansing. A national treasury that bleeds as natural resources are looted at an unprecedented scale.

And yet, not one call for accountability. Not from the UN, not from the African Union, not from the Western governments that pretend to care. Not one demands that Kinshasa take responsibility for its own citizens.

Not one inquiry into the billions of dollars disappearing into offshore accounts while millions of Congolese live in misery.

Instead, Rwanda is blamed for everything. From Kinshasa’s failures in North Kivu to the filthy streets in Kinshasa itself.

The DRC’s tragedy is not just about war and suffering—it is about a carefully constructed lie. A lie that says the Congolese people are powerless.

A lie that says their suffering is solely the fault of foreign powers, never their own government. A lie that allows a corrupt elite to plunder the country while crying ‘Rwanda!’ at every failure.

But Rwanda’s crime is even worse. Rwanda dares to believe in itself. Rwanda dares to build a future that is not dependent on foreign pity.

Rwanda dares to secure its borders, knowing full well that its neighbors are a playground for genocidal fugitives. And for that, the country must be punished.

In some political circles, Rwanda’s independence is intolerable. Rwandans are expected to be either victims or villains—never free people who make their own choices.

The world prefers African nations that beg, not ones that build. It encourages leaders who wait for solutions, not those who create them.

The convenient scapegoat

The world’s silence on the atrocities in the DRC is not accidental. It is a choice. It is far easier to point fingers at Rwanda than to confront the uncomfortable reality of the Congolese state’s collapse.

It is far easier to allow a genocidal militia like the FDLR to continue operating than to admit that ignoring them for 30 years was a mistake. It is far easier to fuel an anti-Rwanda hysteria than to demand that the Congolese government take responsibility for its people.

The DRC’s leaders know this. And they exploit it perfectly. Each accusation against Rwanda is a deflection, a tool to buy time, an excuse for why nothing ever changes. And the world plays along, betraying the very people they claim to protect.

Rwanda is accused of fueling instability in a country where instability is the only constant. Rwanda is accused of plundering resources that foreign companies are openly extracting with Kinshasa’s blessing.

Rwanda is accused of supporting rebels while the Congolese government arms, trains, and integrates the very genocidaires who once slaughtered over a million Rwandans.

If Rwanda had not existed, Kinshasa would have had to invent it. A ready-made villain to distract from its own shortcomings, a convenient excuse for everything from poverty to insecurity to diplomatic failures.

This is why there is no effort to solve the crisis in North Kivu. Because to do so would require an admission that the problem is not Rwanda, but the DRC itself. That the real threat to the Congolese people is not across the border but within the capital—Kinshasa.

The silence of "the righteous”

Where are the human rights organizations that so proudly condemn injustice? Where are the Western politicians who love to lecture about democracy and accountability?

Where are the UN reports detailing the atrocities committed by Congolese forces and their mercenary allies? Any mention about hundreds of thousands of Congolese refugees in Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya and many more other places?

Silent. Because the suffering of the Congolese is only useful when it can be weaponized against Rwanda. Because the reality of North Kivu does not fit into the convenient narrative of external aggression.

And so, the world watches as Congolese civilians are killed, as their government invites foreign armies onto their land—and mercenaries, as ethnic hatred is fanned into flames—and it says nothing.

The betrayal of the DRC is not just the betrayal of a nation. It is the betrayal of the very values that the world claims to uphold. It is the proof that when it comes to Africa, suffering is only useful when it can be politicized.

The truth is simple: Rwanda is not the problem. And the world knows it. It just chooses to pretend otherwise.

Breaking the illusion

The world’s betrayal of the Congolese people has devastating consequences:

First: The DRC remains ungovernable – As long as blame can be outsourced, there is no incentive to fix internal problems.

Second: Ethnic violence continues – Tutsi communities in the DRC remain under threat, targeted by hate speech and state-backed militias.

Third: A permanent crisis – With no accountability for its leaders, the DRC is locked in a cycle of warlordism, economic decay, and humanitarian disaster.

But worst of all, this betrayal sends a clear message: African lives only matter when they serve a convenient narrative. There is no real interest in peace, only in maintaining a status quo where blame is neatly assigned, and the real criminals walk free.

For the world to truly help the Congolese people, it must abandon the illusion. It must stop pretending that Rwanda is the foundation of the DRC’s dysfunction.

It must stop excusing leaders who loot their own country while crying ‘foreign interference.’ It must demand accountability from the DRC’s government, not just the usual scapegoats.

But until then, the great betrayal continues. And the Congolese people will remain exactly where the world wants them—suffering, ignored, and forever waiting for a savior who will never come.