On February 6, Congolese President Félix Antoine Tshisekedi honored Angolan journalist Hariana Verás with a Bible, presented by Ambassador Antoine Ghonda in Washington. Verás is known for her biased questions to US officials, through which she consistently pushes for sanctions against Rwanda. ALSO READ: Peace in DR Congo will only come when Kinshasa addresses FDLR threat – former US Assistant Secretary of State Honouring a journalist who has spent her time spreading misinformation about eastern DR Congo with a sacred text that condemns deceit is at odds with the Bible’s core teachings. Prior to receiving the award, she was a special guest of Guillaume Ngefa, DR Congo’s minister of justice, who thanked her for serving the “interest of the Congolese nation.” Those familiar with Congolese politics know the unspoken meaning of this phrase regarding the eastern DR Congo conflict. ALSO READ: Why genocide ideology doesn’t dissolve three decades after dispersion of genocidaires This recognition follows her interview with U.S. Congressman Chris Smith, Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Africa. Whether it qualifies as an interview or simply as a platform for propagating Kinshasa’s narrative is debatable. Smith said he would urge the Trump administration to impose targeted sanctions against Rwandan leadership over alleged non-compliance with the Washington Accords. This comes from a Congressman who claimed that FDLR—a genocidal force of 10,000 fighters—is present in AFC/M23-controlled areas, and therefore the Congolese government bears no responsibility for neutralizing them. ALSO READ: Kagame says Washington Accords offer clearest path to peace In July 2022, State Department spokesman Edward Ned Price alleged, “Rwanda is at the root of the security concerns in the region,” following Senator Robert Menendez’s proposal to cut US aid to Rwanda, claiming that the funds could support M23. After M23 gained dominance in eastern DR Congo, the US Senate labelled the Congolese crisis a Rwandan problem, alleging that Rwanda supports the rebel group—a misleading narrative quickly adopted by the international community. Some Rwandan officials have faced US sanctions. In short, the US Senate consistently framed the DR Congo crisis as Rwanda’s responsibility. ALSO READ: How Burundian troops in South Kivu sparked a distinct humanitarian crisis amid DR Congo’s wider war Dear Congressman Smith, imagine Rwanda as the 51st state of the United States, alongside Alaska and Hawaii. Suppose this 51st state is under attack by an armed genocidal group called FDLR, which committed genocide and fled to a neighbouring country – DR Congo, and has continued to launch attacks on Rwandan territory. The genocidal militia killed thousands of innocent people, particularly genocide survivors and those accused of ties to the Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF), between 1997 and 2000. They massacred students at Nyange School on March 18, 1997, ambushed a BRALIRWA bus in Nyamyumba on January 19, 1998, killing passengers, and attacked the villages of Gisura and Ruhara, on July 15, 2012, as well as Kinigi on December 2, 2012. Today, FDLR is integrated into the Congolese army’s operational structure, aiming to overthrow the government in Kigali. They are supported by the Congolese president who has openly vowed to remove President Paul Kagame from power. Just before AFC/M23 seized Goma, Kinshasa’s allies including FDLR, Burundian forces, SADC troops, and European mercenaries were preparing to defeat AFC/M23 and then invade Rwanda to fulfill Tshisekedi’s goal: remove the RPF from power and allow FDLR to complete the genocide they began three decades ago. ALSO READ: SADC forces sought to 'bring war to Rwanda', says foreign ministry Dear Congressman Smith, if Rwanda were the 51st state of the United States, would you ask Rwanda to remove its defensive measures? I highly doubt it. You would call for a special session to ensure US support in neutralizing the FDLR threat. You would ask the American people to condemn FDLR, which, despite its genocidal history, remains allied with Tshisekedi. You would stop imposing the eastern DR Congo conflict on President Paul Kagame and the Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) and focus on the greatest threat to peace in the Great Lakes region: FDLR and its genocidal ideology. Ending the FDLR threat means peace for DR Congo, peace for Rwanda, and peace for the entire region.
