Congolese researcher Alex Mvuka has detailed what he describes as interconnected political, military, and social structures sustaining violence against Tutsi communities in eastern DR Congo.
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Speaking during part two of The Context podcast by The New Times, Mvuka Mvuka explained how armed groups, political actors, sections of civil society, and the silence from parts of the international community have contributed to the decades of anti-Tutsi violence in the region.
According to Mvuka, coalition forces aligned with Kinshasa operating in eastern DR Congo, including the FARDC, Burundian forces, FDLR and Wazalendo militias openly pursue the objective of eliminating Tutsi communities from certain areas.
"The project is about making sure that the region has no Tutsis,” he said.
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Mvuka pointed to demonstrations held in Bukavu in the early 2000s where slogans reportedly described a "clean Bukavu” as one without Tutsi.
For him, such rhetoric reflects how anti-Tutsi ideology has become embedded within political mobilisation and public discourse in parts of DR Congo.
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‘Four interconnected layers’
Mvuka described what he called four interconnected layers sustaining the violence: armed groups, sections of the local population, political actors, and civil society organisations.
According to him, political actors have increasingly used anti-Tutsi rhetoric to mobilise public support amid poverty, insecurity, and governance failures.
"Because of endemic corruption and governance failures, hatred becomes something political actors use to mobilise people,” he said.
He argued that political competition in some parts of eastern DR Congo has increasingly been shaped by anti-Tutsi narratives.
"If you are a political actor who wants to access government positions, you have to show the degree of how much you hate Tutsi people,” he said, adding that this cannot be downplayed as populism.
"When you say that it is just populism, you really reduce the danger of its forming.”
Mvuka linked the situation to the influence of the FDLR, the armed group formed by remnants of perpetrators of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.
He said the militia intensified extremist violence in eastern DR Congo.
"FDLR came and professionalised it,” he said, referring to killings targeting Tutsi communities, such as Banyamulenge.
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International silence and selective attention
Mvuka criticised the silence, selective reporting, and omission by most international organisations, NGOs, and rights groups regarding attacks against Tutsi civilians in eastern DR Congo.
Referring to bombardments in Minembwe and the High Plateaux in South Kivu, Mvuka accused collaborative organisations of reporting civilian casualties without mentioning the identities of affected communities or the nature of attacks being carried out.
"They say civilians. That is ambiguous,” he said. "They don’t want to show that there is a genocide.”
He added that humanitarian access in some of the most affected areas has been severely restricted for years, limiting assistance to civilians.
"DR Congo is huge. Among these NGOs, there is a kind of humanitarian economy,” he said.
"To be able to operate in DR Congo, you have to fit with those rhetorics of hatred,” he said. "Or at least you have to remain silent. Or you have to omit what you have seen or deny it.”
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He added that communities in eastern DR Congo have been left to organise survival mechanisms without consistent external assistance, particularly in prolonged conflict zones such as Minembwe.
Mvuka also questioned why international attention often focuses on the AFC/M23 rebel movement while other armed groups operating receive less attention.
He cited the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) and CODECO militias, which are linked to deadly attacks in eastern DR Congo.
"There are more than 200 armed groups in this region, but the disproportionate military response is directed toward areas populated by Tutsi communities,” he said.
According to Mvuka, areas populated by Banyamulenge communities continue to face bombardments involving coalition forces allied to Kinshasa.
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Rwanda and regional security concerns
Mvuka said Rwanda continues to feature prominently in discussions surrounding eastern DR Congo because Tutsi communities in there are frequently associated with Rwanda.
"Rwanda is singled out because of what they perceive Rwanda to be,” he said.
He argued that regional and international discussions often overlook the historical presence of armed groups hostile to Rwanda in eastern Congo, including the FDLR and P5, a coalition of anti-Rwanda groups.
The researcher said there were ongoing efforts to reorganise or remobilise these networks in the region with support from actors allied to Kinshasa.
At the same time, he questioned what he observes as the selective application of international legal principles such as the Responsibility to Protect (R2P).
"The whole Responsibility to Protect framework is applied politically in a selective manner,” he said.
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Mvuka said peace efforts should focus on addressing the deeper structural roots of the conflict, including ethnic extremism, armed groups, exclusionary politics, and regional security dynamics.
"The negotiations must avoid microwave-type solutions,” he said. "The DR Congo crisis is a regional problem affecting all countries in the region.”
Mvuka drew parallels between current developments in eastern DR Congo and the situation that preceded previous episodes of mass violence in the region, arguing that silence and indifference risk allowing the crisis to deepen further.