On International Women's Day, a message circulated on social media from Congolese Tutsi-Banyamulenge women gathered in Nairobi: Across the world, Banyamulenge women are mourning and peacefully protesting, standing in solidarity with their sisters in the highlands of Minembwe, victims of atrocities carried out by the Congolese and Burundian military forces, supported by Wazalendo militias and the FDLR. ALSO READ: Why FDLR remains the top threat to Rwanda's security As I read this message, I confronted a question: Are these atrocities carried out solely by Congolese and Burundian military forces, Wazalendo militias, and the FDLR? The answer is yes. But they do not act without accomplices. Countries like Germany, Belgium, the United States, France, the Vatican, and South Africa, along with organizations like the United Nations, bear responsibility through action or silence. ALSO READ: Long before AFC/M23: Remembering life as ‘Banyarwanda’ in Uvira Do I accuse the entire world of being against the Tutsi? No. Many nations, organizations, and individuals actively honour the memory of the genocide against the Tutsi, support survivors, and promote reconciliation in Rwanda. Yet following what happened during the colonial era, what unfolded in 1994, and ongoing developments, one can understand why such an assertion carries weight. ALSO READ: DR Congo crisis: Ceasefires 'will be in vain' if Kinshasa continues attacks There was a starting point: the genocide ideology. There were those who conceived it, those who supported it actively or through silence, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) that stopped it In Rwanda, and FDLR – its living artifact. The FDLR revives Belgium's obsession with racial classification (Bantu vs. Nilotic), a theory modern genetic and historical research has thoroughly debunked. Rwanda has ceased to be the nerve center of this genocidal ideology since the RPF liberated the country. DR Congo has become its new epicenter. In my article Revisiting the Roots of Anti-Tutsi Ideology, I traced how French White priest Alphonse Brard and German colonial resident Richard Kandt initiated the war against the Tutsi. Their idea met overwhelming support. The Vatican, through its White Fathers, blessed it. King Baudouin of Belgium made this policy. So-called servants of God like Léon Volker and André Perraudin made it their gospel. Belgian Governor Jean-Paul Harroy and Col Guy Logiest made it their sword. The campaign to destroy the power of the Watusi, as the Germans declared in 1899, culminated in the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. Defeated by the RPF, the Interahamwe militia who had been trained to kill at least 1,000 Tutsi per hour, crossed the border and took refuge in the then Zaire. What began as a race to destroy the power of the Watusi in 1899, resulted in the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, and continues pursuing its objective in DR Congo through FDLR, its last active enclave. Why does the international community fail to understand the urgency of neutralizing FDLR, focusing instead on broader conflict mediation? The neutralization of this genocidal group, recognized by the UN, USA, and EU as a terrorist organization, should not be subject to negotiation. Aisha Gaddafi, daughter of slain Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, stated recently: Negotiations with wolves do not lead to the salvation of the herd, they merely set the date for the next hunt. All negotiations concerning Congolese Tutsi since the 1960s, including recent ones with Tshisekedi, have merely led the wolf to another hunt. Will the Kinshasa-backed FDLR be the last wolf deployed in the hunt against the Tutsi? The light appears at the end of the tunnel. FDLR represents the final active manifestation of a genocidal ideology conceived in 1899. Its neutralization is not negotiable, it is necessary. The international community must recognize that allowing this genocidal militia to persist under the guise of broader conflict mediation perpetuates a 125-year campaign of destruction against the Tutsi. The hunt must end. The wolf must be stopped. Amani Athar is a media specialist, historian, and playwright.
