State propaganda has “definitely reached limitless heights” in DR Congo’s capital, foreign minister Amb Olivier Nduhungirehe said in a post on X, on Saturday, January 3, dismissing claims from Kinshasa that Rwandan soldiers had been arrested on Congolese territory. ALSO READ: Minister slams MONUSCO over ‘mild’ condemnation of deadly Masisi drone attack This came following media reports there that the Congolese army (FARDC) presented seven Rwandan soldiers and eight civilians from neighbouring countries, in Kinshasa, on the same day, who were – as claimed – captured during fighting against AFC/M23 rebels in North Kivu and South Kivu provinces. ALSO READ: AFC/M23’s Bertrand Bisimwa explains why rebels were forced to capture Uvira in lightning advance “NO member of the Rwandan Defence Force (RDF) has been arrested in Congo or presented to the press this morning. This is a mediocre farce that even its own directors don't believe in,” Nduhungirehe said, sharing “one piece of evidence” for Kinshasa’s “hoax.” ALSO READ: AFC/M23 leader Corneille Nangaa states four reasons why his movement is fighting Tshisekedi govt The minister highlighted a picture of “the infamous ‘Ndayambaje Abuba,’ whom Colonel Guillaume Ndjike, then the FARDC spokesperson in North Kivu, had presented to us on February 16, 2024,” as one of the so-called RDF soldiers, presented to the press in Kinshasa on Saturday. Le mensonge d'Etat n'a décidément plus de limites à Kinshasa. AUCUN militaire de la Force Rwandaise de Defense (RDF) n'a été arrêté au Congo ou présenté à la presse ce matin. Il s'agit d'un théâtre médiocre auquel même ses metteurs en scène ne croient. Une seule preuve de cette... https://t.co/KhVN58aF6g pic.twitter.com/ldVuZxNjCj — Olivier J.P. Nduhungirehe (@onduhungirehe) January 3, 2026 He recalled how, in early 2024, Ndjike had presented the Abuba “as an RDF soldier from ‘a place called Kayonza’ (without a serial number) and wearing a brand-new military uniform.” The same young man was presented in mid-January 2024, “in very dirty civilian clothes,” as a Rwandan soldier captured on Congolese soil. ‘Trying to make Ekenge scandal forgotten’ The minister added: “Even in trying to make the [Sylvain] Ekenge scandal forgotten, the Congolese government is acting in an extremely mediocre way.” He was referring to discriminatory remarks made by the former spokesperson of DR Congo's armed forces during a televised interview on December 27 that sparked condemnation from political leaders, civil society organisations, and international observers. During a programme aired on DR Congo’s national broadcaster, RTNC, where he appeared as a guest, Ekenge said: When you marry a Tutsi woman, you have to be careful. When you are a leader, like a great traditional chief, you are given a woman, but you will receive at your home a member of her family who will be presented as a cousin or a nephew, when in fact it is the person who will come to have children with your wife in the house, and you will be told that the children are born Tutsi because the Tutsi race is superior to their ethnicities. ALSO READ: How Kangura inspired Ekenge and FARDC Ekenge’s anti-Tutsi rhetoric also followed statements attributed to Jean Claude Mubenga, a close ally of Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi and a presidential communicator, who referred to the Tutsi as “cockroaches,” “infiltrators,” and “viruses” – dehumanising labels reminiscent of the names used in the lead-up to the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. Tshisekedi has previously welcomed politicians and figures, such as Justin Bitakwira, who have openly called for violence against Tutsi communities. Reacting to Ekenge's comments, last month, Nduhungirehe said that instead of promoting calm during the festive season, Congolese authorities took “the opposite path, plunging headlong into genocidal horror.” ALSO READ: M23 says will ‘not passively watch’ as DR Congo bombs, massacres Banyamulenge The minister accused Congolese authorities of tolerating, and in some cases encouraging, hate speech against Congolese Tutsi communities including Banyamulenge in South Kivu Province. A vast military coalition comprising thousands and thousands of Congolese army forces (FARDC), Burundian troops, Congolese militias known as Wazalendo, genocidal militia from Rwanda (FDLR), and mercenaries from Latin America and Europe, are battling the AFC/M23 movement in the east of the country. ALSO READ: What are the motivations of Burundi’s military intervention in South Kivu? The FDLR are a Kinshasa-backed terrorist militia founded in mid-2000 by remnants of the masterminds of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. The AFC/M23 is fighting for governance that supports basic human rights, secures all Congolese citizens, and addresses the root causes of conflict. The rebellion has vowed to uproot tribalism, nepotism, corruption, and the genocide ideology spread by FDLR, among other vices, widespread in DR Congo. ALSO READ: Why genocide ideology doesn’t dissolve three decades after dispersion of genocidaires For many years, the militia has been spreading violence and genocide ideology targeting Congolese Tutsi communities in eastern DR Congo.
