Villages inhabited by unarmed Banyamulenge civilians are targeted and destroyed by the drones, Sukhoi fighter jets, and mortars of the DR Congo army coalition in South Kivu Province, Bertrand Bisimwa, the AFC/M23 rebellion’s deputy coordinator, said Tuesday, March 4.
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This comes barely a week after AFC/M23 spokesperson Lawrence Kanyuka indicated that the Congolese government continued massacring civilians in Minembwe, Uvira, and surrounding areas in South Kivu Province, using attack drones guided by MONUSCO intelligence.
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The Banyamulenge community has, in the past, petitioned the international community to intervene and stop brutal killings targeting them in Minembwe in South Kivu Province, to no avail.
In a post on X, Bisimwa said the Kinshasa regime is carrying out attacks against peaceful populations, with impunity, in attacks carried out by the Congolese army coalition that includes Burundian armed forces, Rwandan genocidal militias known as FDLR, and Congolese militias called Wazalendo, from Uvira and those who fled Bukavu.
FDLR is a DR Congo-based terrorist militia founded by remnants of the masterminds of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.
He added: "The reason for these attacks is that these villages are heavily inhabited by Banyamulenge populations that the regime assimilates to Rwandans.
"These massacres targeting unarmed civilians are unacceptable and condemnable. If the world has chosen to remain silent on the criminal underworld of the Kinshasa regime babysat by certain states, the AFC/M23 will not passively witness the massacres of innocent civilians, we will take our responsibilities.”
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The war between the Congolese government army coalition that includes FDLR, over 10,000 Burundian troops, 1,600 European mercenaries, and South Africa-led SADC forces, against M23 rebels started in 2021. M23 is now part of a larger rebel coalition, Alliance fleuve Congo (AFC), created in December 2023.
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Since January, the rebels advanced across North and South Kivu provinces, liberating swathes of territory, after repulsing a vast Congolese army coalition that included hundreds of European mercenaries, FDLR, Wazalendo, Burundian armed forces, South African-led SADC forces, as well as UN peacekeepers.
Following heavy fighting triggered by constant violations by the Congolese army coalition, of an earlier set ceasefire, on January 27, the rebels captured Goma, the capital of North Kivu Province, and quickly moved to secure and stabilise the situation and restore order there.
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As the security situation in South Kivu deteriorated amid reports of violence, looting, and abuses propagated by the Congolese army coalition, the rebels moved again.
They first captured the strategic airport of Kavumu, before moving south to capture the regional capital, Bukavu, on February 15. Before then, people were urging them to quickly move in, and secure the entire city. People in rebel-controlled areas in North and South Kivu provinces are relieved that the Congolese army coalition is not disturbing their peace.
But an alarming situation of insecurity and violence in the Hauts-Plateaux of South Kivu, particularly Minembwe and surrounding areas, the homeland of the Banyamulenge, continues.
Moise Nyarugabo, a Congolese lawyer from the Banyamulenge community, earlier noted, on X, that on Monday morning, all the Banyamulenge villages in three territories were attacked at the same time.
He said: "The Banyamulenge villages of Magaja, Bivumu, Bikirikiri, Kabara and Hanzi in the locality of Bibokoboko in the middle plateaus 20 km from Baraka in the territory of Fizi, have been under fire since 6:30 am local time. The attackers come from Baraka, Lweba, Kafulo and Kakuku.
"The villages of Mikenke, Bilalo Mbili. Rwitsankuku and Pointzero, in the Itombwe sector, Mwenga territory have been under fire since 5 am. 3. Still in Fizi territory but this time in the highlands towards Minembwe, the villages of Kivumu and Biziba, Gipimo, Nyagishasha in the Lulenge/Fizi sector have been under fire since 7am.”
Since August 2018, waves of violence in the region claimed hundreds of casualties, and forced thousands of the Banyamulenge to flee after their villages were set on fire. Thousands fled to neighbouring countries including Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania.
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The AFC is fighting for governance that supports basic human rights, secures all Congolese citizens, and addresses the root causes of conflict.
Its leaders have vowed to uproot tribalism, nepotism, corruption, and genocide ideology, among other vices, widespread in DR Congo.