Nduhungirehe slams Mukwege's ‘hypocritical’ condemnation of Tutsi persecution

The Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Olivier Nduhungirehe, has taken issue with recent partial condemnation statements by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Denis Mukwege, describing them as hypocritical and misleading following discriminatory remarks by the Congolese army spokesperson on Tutsi communities. ALSO READ: Outcry as DR Congo army spokesman spreads anti-Tutsi tropes Mukwege, a Congolese gynaecologist, had issued a statement condemning ethnic and gender-based discrimination in general terms, without calling out Maj Gen Sylvain Ekenge, who attacked Tutsi women on national TV on Saturday, December 27. Nduhungirehe said that Mukwege’s remarks ignore the real threats facing Congolese Tutsi today. The minister said that Mukwege’s failure to specifically condemn the daily persecution of the Banyamulenge in South Kivu province where he is based, coupled with his support for dialogue with the genocidal FDLR — a militia founded by remnants of perpetrators of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi and heirs of the extremist “Ten Commandments of the Hutu” — exposes the selective and misleading nature of his statement. “It is well known that when a person, who claims to condemn an act of hatred, nevertheless refuses to name the person or community that was the victim of this act, preferring to take refuge in a general and principled formulation ... their condemnation is never sincere,” Nduhungirehe wrote on X on Monday. ALSO READ: How Kangura inspired Ekenge and FARDC Critics have long argued that Mukwege remains largely quiet on the repeated attacks against the Banyamulenge in Minembwe and South Kivu. While he publicly condemned alleged massacres in Kipupu back in 2020, inflating victim numbers, he ignored pleas from local communities and activists asking him to speak out against ongoing raids, rapes, and killings targeting Banyamulenge women and families for years. Observers say this selective attention highlights a pattern of partial condemnation, where the plight of the very communities most at risk receives little acknowledgement. ALSO READ: Nduhungirehe presses UN to respond to genocide warnings in DR Congo The remarks made by Maj Gen Ekenge during a December 27 interview on DR Congo’s state broadcaster RTNC revived narratives that were used in the lead-up to the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. “When you marry a Tutsi woman, you have to be careful,” Ekenge said, proceeding to spread conspiracy theories about Tutsi families and claims of racial superiority. Nduhungirehe said that instead of promoting calm during the festive season, Congolese authorities had taken “the opposite path,” tolerating, and in some cases encouraging, speech that dehumanizes Congolese Tutsi, including the Banyamulenge, who face genocide, according to the United Nations' genocide prevention office. Rwanda has repeatedly called on the United Nations and other international actors to address the rise of anti-Tutsi rhetoric and violence in DR Congo as warning of potential genocidal violence, which is driven by the Kinshasa-backed FDLR.

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Nduhungirehe slams Mukwege's ‘hypocritical’ condemnation of Tutsi persecution