Rwanda's envoy to the United Nations has raised alarm over the continued violence, displacement and restrictions affecting Banyamulenge and other Congolese Tusti communities in eastern DR Congo, saying attacks against civilians because of their identity cannot be overlooked. Speaking during a United Nations Security Council briefing on Tuesday, September 29, Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Martin Ngoga, said United Nations reporting had documented killings, burned villages, forced displacement, cattle raids and sustained hate speech targeting Banyamulenge, Congolese Tutsi and Kinyarwanda-speaking Congolese. “There is another matter on which this Council cannot remain silent: the protection of Congolese citizens facing violence because of their identity,” Ngoga said. “We have also witnessed incidents of public humiliation, lynching, and cannibalism of Congolese Tutsis because of their identity, by known perpetrators, without any accountability whatsoever...” Ngoga said information available in the public domain indicated that, over nearly a decade since 2017, more than 650 villages had been destroyed or burned in the South Kivu, more than 700,000 cattle looted, and at least 147 schools and 57 health facilities destroyed. More than 80 per cent of the Banyamulenge and other Rwandophone population had been forced into exile through successive waves of violence, he said. “If there is any question as to who is being targeted, the pattern of displacement is telling,” Ngoga said. He cited United Nations reporting which found that the Mikenge internally displaced persons’ camp hosted almost exclusively Banyamulenge civilians, despite the area being home to several other communities. Continued restrictions around Minembwe Ngoga said Banyamulenge communities in the South Kivu highlands had also faced repeated restrictions since 2017 on access to markets, farmland and essential supplies. Recent reporting, he said, had again indicated blocked routes around Minembwe. “This cannot be ignored when assessing the ethnic dimension of the violence,” Ngoga said. He described the Minembwe blockade as among the most prolonged blockades imposed on civilians without effective international intervention. “This pattern is too big to be fabricated and too visible to be concealed. For once, the Security Council should summon the courage not to look away,” he said. Ekenge’s return raises questions Ngoga also questioned the reinstatement of Major General Sylvain Ekenge as spokesperson of the Congolese Armed Forces (FARDC), who had suspended after discriminatory remarks about Tutsi women. Ngoga said Ekenge's return without consequences for his remarks on national television raised wider concerns over the handling of ethnic incitement. During a December 27, 2025 broadcast, he warned Congolese men against marrying Tutsi women and advanced a claim that Tutsi families were using marriages and childbirth to preserve what he called their “race.” Months later, Ekenge has appeared again in an official FARDC communication in the same spokesperson role, without a public announcement explaining the lifting of his suspension or a formal reappointment. “After his suspension for inflammatory remarks targeting Kinyarwanda-speaking Congolese, his return to a prominent military position without any publicly known accountability process raises serious questions about the DRC Government’s posture toward ethnic incitement,” Ngoga said. Rwanda questions Wazalendo label Ngoga also challenged the description of some armed actors fighting alongside the FARDC as “self-defence groups” in the Secretary-General’s report. He noted that the report attributed 143 human rights abuses to Wazalendo groups and recorded children associated with Wazalendo-affiliated armed groups. “This terminology deserves scrutiny,” Ngoga said. He said United Nations reporting had documented that the Congolese government armed and financed Wazalendo and other allied armed groups for joint operations with the FARDC, including offensives against Kinyarwanda-speaking communities. The relationship, he said, went beyond collaboration. Under Congolese law, Wazalendo formations had been incorporated into the Armed Defense Reserve established to reinforce the FARDC, Ngoga said. “When a group is armed and financed by the State, fights alongside its army and is incorporated into its military reserve structure, on what basis is it still described simply as a ‘self-defence group,’” he asked. Ngoga said many formations now operating under the Wazalendo umbrella had previously existed as armed groups under different names and structures. “If ‘self-defence’ is an analytical category, then objective criteria must govern its use,” he said. He said the same criteria should apply when assessing Twirwaneho, a self-defense group in South Kivu, allied with the AFC/M23 and fighting for the Congolese Tutsi communities, in the context of Minembwe and the security concerns of Kinyarwanda-speaking communities. “Our point is: all armed groups must be assessed according to the same standards: their conduct and impact on civilians,” Ngoga said. “The choice of language should be based on objective and evidence-based criteria.” Ngoga said the Washington and Doha processes offered an opportunity to change the trajectory of the conflict, but stressed that agreements would only deliver results through implementation. “Agreements alone will not bring peace. Implementation will,” he said.
