Pacifique Murhula, a cab driver in Bukavu, the rebel-controlled capital of DR Congo’s South Kivu Province, did not see any good reason why he “would waste time going to vote” during the country’s turbulent presidential polls in December 2023. President Félix Tshisekedi was declared winner of the elections marred by delays and malpractices, even as the main opposition leaders called for protests after the results were announced. “I didn’t want to vote for leaders that would disappoint me. I knew it was all a pointless. It was a waste of time,” Murhula said, as he tried to find a good spot to park his aged yellow cab on the roundabout at the Place de l'Indépendance, a prominent public square located in the heart of Bukavu, on Tuesday, February 18. ALSO READ: High time South African forces left eastern DR Congo - M23 spokesperson The government in Kinshasa, he said, does not care about the people and that’s why there is so much suffering and war. ALSO READ: What is the Alliance Fleuve Congo/M23 rebellion all about? On the contrary, the father of four said, the AFC/M23 rebels who took control of the city two days earlier, “are good people.” The fall of Bukavu, on February 15, came three days after the rebels captured Kavumu airport, a small but strategic airbase located about 25 kilometres from Bukavu. ALSO READ: SADC mission in DR Congo should withdraw, says South African defence analyst Outside, an army of motorbike taxis and rickety yellow cabs raced to different directions. It was hot and dusty, despite the fact that it had been raining an hour earlier. Not all shops were open and schools had not yet reopened but the city centre was a beehive of activity. Life was steadily returning to normal. A convoy of rebel soldiers’ trucks hurried past us. only a few people stopped to watch it turn, without reducing speed, into the next street corner before disappearing. “It is still unbelievable! They are not like the FARDC soldiers we are used to, really. The former authorities who have fled were dreaded by almost everyone. You would not pass them without being hassled. But now I am beginning to feel safe around these new authorities,” said Pascal Kitu, a motorbike taxi rider. “They are so different from FARDC. All they mind is their security business, not harassing people on the streets.” Told that Kinshasa calls the AFC/M23 terrorists, Murhula was dumbfounded. He asked that the question to be repeated. And then he countered: “Nooo! No!” He added: “When M23 sees a thief, or a criminal, it should deal with them accordingly! Anyone who harasses ordinary people should not be given freedom. The government soldiers who used to live here bolted and left many arms all over the place and bad people took them. This is why during all the days before M23 got here, they were disturbing us a lot; shooting, and pillaging. “M23 should help us search for all those who have these guns and take them away. These people who are armed are breaking into our homes and harassing us. If only M23 could search to confiscate all these guns we would feel much safer.” Shortly before the rebels fully entered the city, last weekend, he was at a cemetery near Camp Saïo, Bukavu's main military camp, for his brother’s burial and “some youths told us that there were guns in the area.” “We dug them out and called the M23 who also came unearthed many more guns. Eventually, we dug out 40 guns, in just one day!” Murhula and Kitu are some of many Bukavu residents who have a story to tell about their country's notorious government soldiers, the FARDC, and its coalition of Burundian troops, FDLR – a DR Congo-based terrorist militia founded by remnants of the masterminds of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda – and a loose alliance of local militia groups called Wazalendo. ALSO READ: Why genocide ideology doesn’t dissolve three decades after dispersion of genocidaires On a dirty roadway close to Nyawera market, Aicha Mapendo, also said Congolese soldiers habitually robbed civilians. She said: “My family spent two full days indoors this past weekend. We were frightened for our lives. Wazalendo and FARDC were causing havoc before they eventually ran away. But there is a sense of relief now, despite the difficulties I am going through trying to earn a living. I have two young children to feed. “We have suffered so much. My prayer is that this is the beginning of the end of our suffering. I hope M23 stays for good because I am tired of the endless chaos and suffering.” ‘Ignore the noise makers’ A 60-year-old Munyamulenge man, who preferred anonymity because of concerns for his safety, told The New Times that he is “never surprised” whenever he hears stories about M23 being “branded terrorists, or tarnished, in any other manner.” During times of conflict, he said, this kind of spin is expected. The old man added: “The regime in Kinshasa, and its equally ill-intentioned allies, are calling them terrorists to, deliberately, tarnish their good image. What is important is for AFC/M23 to continue doing things right and ignore all noise makers. Our country has, for so long, suffered due to bad governance, and rampant corruption. That must change! “Our people are denied basic human rights such as citizenship. Why, do you think, the international community has paid no attention to the plight of our people in South Kivu who continue to be massacred? Why is the racially biased colonial ideology that drives the prevailing ideology of hatred against Banyamulenge and the Congolese Tutsi not sufficiently condemned and combated? The UN and powerful Western countries have never cared about the safety of our people.” For years, appeals by the Banyamulenge community for the international community to intervene and stop the continued brutal killings in Minembwe, South Kivu Province, have been ignored. The Banyamulenge continue to be attacked, and killed, by a coalition of Mai-Mai militia from neighbouring ethnic communities, in collaboration and concertation with armed militia and troops from Burundi. Later, as Murhula sped back to the border, to beat our 5pm time limit, he said: “When they [AFC/M23] first arrived in the city, they guaranteed us that all will go well. I believe them. They are, undoubtedly, very different from FARDC, seeing from the way they behave and what they do. I trust they will do a god job. “They have started well. They reassure us through action. This is what actually gives me hope that they will bring about positive change. It is not easy, because of the many years of bad governance from Kinshasa, but I am optimistic that they will turn things around.”
