General Sylvain Ekenge, former spokesperson for the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC), was recently suspended for making remarks widely condemned as anti-Tutsi hate speech. But his remarks, for me, were more than anti-Tutsi hate speech, it was a sign of the downfall of the regime in Kinshasa. On Friday, February 21, 2025, we wrote an article titled Can Rwanda's war against colonial ideology spark Africa's renaissance? In the article, we cited Frantz Fanon saying that: Africa is shaped like a pistol, whose trigger is in the Congo. Whoever has their finger on the trigger has the power to build or destroy the continent. We concluded the article by saying that the person who can neutralize or destroy the genocide ideology in the Great Lakes Region of Africa may be the one with their finger on the trigger. To destroy this ideology in the region, we need first to destroy the Hamitic myth. It is this Hamitic myth, manufactured in laboratories in Brussels, Paris, and Berlin, that brought the poison of racism and penetrated every corner of this region of Africa, sowing divisions and hatreds that culminated in the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. The idea was simple: divide and rule. Let's create two identities, one as the owner of the Great Lakes Region of Africa, and another as a stranger to the region. While both are fighting, we will maintain control and exploit resources efficiently. When Gen. Ekenge warned people to be careful when marrying Tutsi women, characterizing them as instruments of infiltration by a community seeking superiority, there was external power from these capitals that pushed him, especially from Brussels. Just as there was external power from Paris that pushed Juvénal Habyarimana during the genocide against the Tutsi in 1994, telling some Rwandans to send others to Ethiopia and Egypt, the so-called countries of their origin. Who told them that the Tutsi came from Egypt, when Egyptians tell us that they came from the source of the Nile? A prominent historian, Yosef ben Jochannan, in his article titled The Nile Valley Civilization and the Spread of African Culture, cited a document (The Papyrus of Hunefer) that states: We came from the beginning of the Nile, where God Hapi dwells, at the foothills of the Mountains of the Moon. We, meaning the Egyptians, came from the beginning of the Nile. But no one from these colonial scholars looked at this possibility. What they wanted was to plant the seed of discord that would help them create perpetual conflict in Africa. And even if they tried to send them to these so-called countries of origin, where is their assurance that they will succeed? History shows us that scandals like the one involving General Ekenge signal the downfall of any genocidal regime. Political leaders who have preferred genocide over cohabitation have generally met ends involving military defeat, flight into exile, arrest, and prosecution by international tribunals, leading to life imprisonment or, in some historical cases, the death penalty. After his death, former President of Rwanda Juvénal Habyarimana's body was abandoned by his wife and children in the mortuary at Kanombe Military Hospital. They learned later that Mobutu took it and buried his remains in Gbadolite. Habyarimana's genocidal regime was defeated by the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA), which preferred a policy of cohabitation embodied in 'Ndi Umunyarwanda.' His successor, Théodore Sindikubwabo, whose mandate was to supervise the genocide, died in exile in Zaire. Jean Kambanda, the interim Prime Minister during the genocide, was sentenced to life imprisonment, marking the first time an international tribunal issued a judgment against a former head of government. Colonel Théoneste Bagosora, a high-ranking military official considered a mastermind of the Rwandan genocide, was sentenced to life imprisonment. History shows us that those who preferred genocide ideology over cohabitation ended up defeated by those who preferred cohabitation over genocide ideology. The Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA) victory ended the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, causing the Hutu extremist government to flee into neighboring Zaire (DR Congo). The Nazi regime was defeated at the end of World War II by the Allied forces. The Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia was ended by a Vietnamese invasion. Coming back to Frantz Fanon, who said that Africa is shaped like a pistol, whose trigger is in the Congo, it seems to me that General Ekenge helped the AFC/M23 in their quest to destroy the ideology in the Great Lakes Region of Africa, hence having their finger on the trigger. Will they be able to destroy this ideology in the region? It is my prayer.
