Every year, Rwanda’s remembrance period, beginning on April 7, is a solemn time to honour the victims of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. Yet this period is consistently met with deliberate attempts to disrupt both its peace and its memory.
During the 30th commemoration, in 2024, President Paul Kagame made a statement that stays with me each time April 7 approaches: "There are 365 days in a year. Give us that one day of commemoration, April 7. Commemorate with us, and you can have the remaining 364 days blaming us for everything you don’t like about us.”
He directed these words at individuals who organize events intended to disturb the commemoration, despite April 7 having been designated by the United Nations as the International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. Even so, actors based in Rwanda’s former colonial powers, Belgium and France, continue to find ways to interfere.
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Last year, Congolese rapper Gims scheduled a concert in Paris on April 7, the date of the 31st commemoration. Separately, Jambo ASBL, backed by the Belgian government, has continued to promote narratives of hatred around this date. Their messaging claims that the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) planned to exterminate the Hutu majority. While they acknowledge the massacres, they falsely equate them with alleged RPF crimes against the Hutu.
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This pattern of denial and distortion has a traceable history. It began with Seth Sendashonga, former Minister of the Interior, who incited rebellion within the Rwandan army in 1994. When that effort failed, he fled and formed the Forces de Résistance pour la Démocratie in exile, also without success. He was followed by Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza from the Netherlands, then self-proclaimed president of Rwandans in exile Thomas Nahimana, and later Paul Rusesabagina, who was presented as a hero in Western circles. Each, in turn, failed.
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As these figures lost credibility, a new strategy emerged: building influence through African alliances rather than relying on Western endorsement. This is where the connection between the Tshisekedi and Habyarimana families becomes central.
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Today, a coalition openly threatens to return to power and complete what was left unfinished in 1994. This is not mere rhetoric; it is deliberate planning, carried out with overt external support from DR Congo and Burundi, and quiet complicity from Belgium and France.
As presidents Tshisekedi and Ndayishimiye have publicly declared their intention to overthrow the government in Kigali, France and Belgium have provided operational space to those being mobilized for that purpose. It is now established that Tshisekedi’s objective is to install Jean-Luc Habyarimana at the helm of the genocidal FDLR militia, with Ndayishimiye’s backing.
Beyond this political alignment, the relationship between their mothers—Agathe Kanziga and Jikila Kasalu, known as Mama Marthe—both based in Paris, adds another dangerous dimension. Kanziga’s stated ambition is the elimination of the Tutsi; Kasalu’s is the targeting of the Swahiliphone population.
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Their rapprochement in Paris serves a single purpose: mobilizing Congolese communities in the diaspora and within Congo to support the remnants of genocide ideology, namely FDLR and its backers. The financial architecture sustaining this network is clearly identifiable. Jean-Luc operates from Paris, while his brother, Léon Habyarimana, is based in Brussels as treasurer of Jambo ASBL. Both are actively involved in raising funds for their armed wing; FDLR. Neutralizing the genocidal militia would significantly reduce tensions between Rwanda and DR Congo. However, lasting peace requires dismantling its financial infrastructure—specifically Jambo ASBL in Brussels, Jean-Luc in Paris, and the networks being built by his mother and Kasalu.
As Rwanda marks the 32nd commemoration of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, the threat is not merely historical; it is present and active. The cities of Kinshasa, Bujumbura, Paris, and Brussels have become active nodes in a network working to destabilize Kigali and resume what the genocide left unfinished.
Once FDLR and its financial infrastructure are fully neutralized, the Great Lakes Region can finally begin to close this chapter of genocide ideology. This outcome is not wishful thinking—it is a strategic necessity, and it is achievable.
The writer is a media specialist, historian, and playwright.