Some people have no shame, as we would say in Rwanda. Do not be fooled by the mild manner and tone. It is actually a very strong rebuke of people who show gross insensitivity or arrogance, or are insulting when they should be hiding their faces in shame or asking for pardon. But Rwandans are very polite people and rarely want to offend and so they put lots of things mildly. Lately, there has been no shortage of people or countries deserving that sort of rebuke. First, it was the United States Secretary of State Anthony Blinken. On the day Rwandans were commemorating the Genocide against the Tutsi thirty years ago, he posted a statement on X (formerly Twitter) calling the genocide ‘unspeakable violence against thousands of Tutsi, Hutu and Twa”, essentially denying it was genocide. His Belgian counterpart, Hadja Lahbib, went even further. She accused Rwanda of being responsible for insecurity in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Lahbib led her country’s delegation to the commemoration of the genocide against the Tutsi. She did what was expected of her: visited the Kigali Genocide Memorial and the monument at Camp Kigali where ten Belgian soldiers guarding the prime minister of Rwanda at the time, Agathe Uwilingiymana, were killed in April 1994. The prime minister was herself killed before the Belgian soldiers were. That was to be expected. But she could have gone beyond standard diplomatic niceties and showed that Belgium really felt with Rwandans and was sorry for its behaviour in Rwanda in 1994. That would have had more meaning than mere attendance of the remembrance event. For instance, she could have waited a few more days and visited IPRC Kigali (formerly ETO, Kicukiro), the scene of Belgian ignominy in Rwanda in April 1994 where their soldiers in the peacekeeping mission abandoned the Tutsi to their killers. She could have joined hundreds of survivors of the genocide and participated in the walk to remember that traces the journey from there to the place of their massacre at Nyanza just up the hill. But perhaps that would be asking for too much. That part of history has probably been excised from the memory of Belgian politicians. Not a word about the victims and survivors of the genocide while she was in Kigali beyond the standard official one sentence statement about standing with Rwandans during the remembrance period. She deserves credit, though, for calling the genocide by its proper name. The following day, the minister was in Kinshasa where this time she found her voice. She accused Rwanda of being responsible for the instability in the DRC and demanded that Rwanda stop supporting the M23 rebels and withdraw its troops from there. We could not tell what her own views are. It doesn't matter anyway. She was representing the interests of her country and it is clear where they lie. But she seemed to forget or ignore the origins of the insecurity in eastern DRC, in particular its link to the genocide in Rwanda .Perhaps a reminder is necessary. Most of the problems of Congo and the region can be traced to Belgium itself. The Congolese authorities have their fair share of blame, some of it resulting from their own deficiencies, years of emasculation by Belgian colonial brutality or neglect, and from the support and meddling of western nations. In its current form, the mess in the east of the DRC has its roots in the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda in 1994. Should the Belgian foreign minister have made those demands, ignoring the ethnic cleansing in DRC that has connections to Rwandan genocidaires at the time her heart was supposedly with the victims and survivors of the genocide in Rwanda? First, as we said, it was insensitive. Second, she should have asked herself whether Belgium has the moral authority to make such demands. If she had done that, she would have found out that Belgium is responsible for creating and entrenching divisions among Rwandans which led to the genocide against the Tutsi. She would have learnt of the feeling of betrayal among survivors of the genocide. Hundreds of Tutsi had sought refuge at ETO Kicukiro (a Vocational school) where Belgian troops of the UN peacekeeping mission, UNAMIR (United Nations Assistance Mission in Rwanda) had a post in the belief that they would be protected. On April 11, 1994, however, Belgium withdrew their troops from ETO despite pleas from those they were leaving behind. Their withdrawal effectively delivered the Tutsi there to their killers. That evening the interahamwe marched them to Nyanza hill where they were massacred. When the genocidal forces were defeated, they relocated to Zaire, now DRC, where they regrouped and mounted armed attacks on Rwanda. Over the years they have organised outfits like the FDLR. But they did more than that. They planted and spread anti-Tutsi hatred and genocide ideology. Which is at the root of the ongoing conflict in the east of the DRC. Belgium does not seem to have done a lot to help end the FDLR menace. In fact reports say they have been trading in minerals with the FDLR who, until recently, controlled mining sites in Nyanzale. Indeed, when M23 took that centre and drove out FDLR there were loud cries from Belgium for the M23 to withdraw. Who is actually responsible for the insecurity in eastern DRC? That is the question everybody should be asking before apportioning blame. It is not M23. The rebellion is only a consequence of, and reaction to, deeper problems, among which is the absence of an effective state in the area. Another is the FDLR whose presence is responsible for the growing hate speech and ethnic cleansing, which, if unchecked, could lead to another genocide. This group has vowed to remove the government in Rwanda and to complete the genocide against the Tutsi. The powerful countries of the west, and some in Africa, bear some responsibility as well. Their mining interests and geopolitical rivalry take precedence over governance or humanitarian concerns in the region. Making such demands on Rwanda as the Belgian foreign minister did only deflects responsibility from the real actors on to others and does not help in resolving the problems in DR Congo.
