On May 3, 2024, Rwandan Defense Forces (RDF) troops, under the cover of M23 rebels heavily bombed camps of Congolese displaced civilians in Mugunga, North-Kivu Province in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), near the main city of Goma. Tens of displaced people, mostly women and children and elderly were killed. The bombing, a continuation of human crimes committed by the Rwandan army against the Congolese civilians for decades has been condemned worldwide, including by the United States Government (USA), the European Union (EU), African Union (AU), and South African Development Community (SADC), leading to calls for International sanctions against the Rwandan army and its leaders.
According to official reports, statements by human rights organizations, and local sources, the bombings on May 3, 2024 originated from Karuba, in the Kiroche heights, which has been under the control of the Rwandan Defense Forces (RDF). Five bombs were launched on the camps of displaced civilians.
The DRC government has officially accused the Rwandan army of conducting terrorist acts and war crimes on the Congolese territory and of executing a potentially planned genocide targeting a group of Congolese population, calling on the international community to impose sanctions against the Rwandan government, the Rwandan Army, and Rwanda leaders.
In just a few months, Rwandan Defense Forces (RDF) under the cover of M23, have launched a series of other bombings systematically targeting civilians, including women, children and elderly, from specific ethnic groups. The bombings include:
*the bombing targeting a primary school in Mugunga, on February 2, 2024 in Mugunga;
*the bombing targeting a open market in Mugunga and a displaced persons camp in Nzulo on February 7, 2024;
*the attacks on and bombings of Goma international airport by Rwandan drones on February 17, 2024;
*the bombing targeting civilians in Sake on February 22, 2024;
*the bombing targeting civilians in Nzulo west of Goma on March 18, 2024.
Based on the bombings, many observers have confirmed war crimes, crimes against humanity, and a potential genocide against selected ethnic groups of Congolese by the Rwandan army under the cover of M23 rebels.
The international community, including the United States, the European Union, the Southern African Development Community (SADC), and France, condemned the latest bombings and denounced the escalation of violence and the potential crimes against humanity, given the use of heavy weapons and bombings targeting civilians in displacement camps.
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In a press release on May 6, 2024 the Government of the DRC officially called for international sanctions against the Rwandan government and its leaders. The DRC government appealed to the international community, including facilitators of the Luanda process, to take decisive political and economic sanctions against Rwandan Government and Military and the Rwandan leaders.
“It is urgent that the international community take substantial political and economic sanctions to force Rwanda to abandon its terrorist and murderous adventures on Congolese territory,” stated the spokesperson of government of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
On April 19, 2024 during her visit to Goma, the Belgian ambassador to the DRC, Roxane de Bilderling, urged the Congolese Government to file a complaint against the Rwandan government with international judicial authorities for aggression and war crimes.
Meanwhile, the Rwandan Defense Forces commanders under the cover of M23 and Alliance Fleuve Congo (AFC) have been forcing the civilian populations to attend required meetings in several areas under their control. The meetings have been led by Corneille Nangaa and Bernard Mahese Byamungu, the proxy AFC and M23 Rebels.
In these meetings, the two proxy leaders have been insisting that the problem faced by the displaced and civilians in Eastern-DRC and DRC overall in general, is not Paul Kagame and M23 Rebels, but Felix Tshisekedi, Burundian President Evariste Ndayishimiye, and Rwandan refugees.
They then paraded the young men, especially from the Hutu ethnic group, who had been forced to joining M23 rebels, despite the fact the primary targets of RDF are Hutus. Bernard Maheshe Byamungu is on the sanctions list of the United Nations Security Council since October 25, 2023. In January 2023, Bernard Maheshe Byamungu was promoted to the rank of brigadier general by M23 Commander Sultan Makenga, the actual RPF commander, leading of M23 rebels, and later appointed chief of staff and deputy to Sultani Makenga.
He was listed as a military leader of a designated Congolese militia, M23, receiving support from outside the DRC, the Rwandan government, and which impedes the disarmament and reintegration process. Bernard Maheshe Byamungu leads M23, a designated entity. UN Security Council said that he has led operations and intelligence for M23, committing "atrocities against civilians in, amongst others, Kisheshe on 29 November 2022" and "directed atrocities in Kindu, including public extrajudicial executions". (see here https://www.un.org/securitycouncil/content/bernard-maheshe-byamungu).
Sultan Makenga is a former commander within RDF having joined the Rwandan Patriotic Front during the 1990-1994 civil war.. He was assigned by Rwandan leaders to lead the operations in DRC and is also on the UN sanctions list.
DRC Members of the Parliament from Masisi, North-Kivu Province have stated that the forced recruitment of the young people in their electoral district to join the M23 Rebels rather is a deliberate plan to extermine these young people while also bombing their parents, the women, the children and the elders in the displaced camps.
“The statements by the Rwandan president [Paul Kagame] about wanting to protect part of the Congolese population conceal a policy of sowing confusion, provoking inter-ethnic conflict and creating chaos with a view to carrying out a plan to exterminate and commit genocide against a category of the Congolese population” said the statement by the spokesperson of the members of the DRC Members of the Parliament from Masisi.
Congolese Used As Puppets and The Rwandan 1990-1994 Civil War Scenario
Some DRC Members of the Parliament contacted by AfroAmerica Network said that what is happening in North-Kivu, and especially in Masisi, looks like a repeat of what happened in Rwanda in 1990-1994, when agents and soldiers of the Rwandan Patriotic Front rebels under the disguise of extremist Hutu militia, conducted massacres against Tutsis in Rwanda, blaming Hutus, and then used some of these crimes to massacre Hutus civilians. (see here Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) Military Leaders Committed Genocide Against Hutus, States Former RPF Top Leader Dr Theogene Rudasingwa ).
They also pointed to top Hutu leaders used as a cover by Rwandan Patriotic Front leaders Paul Kagame and his then supporter, Ugandan Yoweri Museveni, including Alexis Kanyarengwe and Casimir Bizimungu, stating that: "Corneille Nangaa is the new Pasteur Bizimungu, whereas Bernard Maheshe Byamungu is the new Alexis Kanyarengwe."
"Actually, we , the Congolese people, need also to realize the following potential scenario already in play: Paul Kagame is the new Yoweri Museveni, Sultan Makenga the new Paul Kagame, Felix Tshisekedi the new Juvenal Habyarimana and Evariste Ndayishimiye the new Cyprien Ntaryamira, " they added.
On May 15, 2024, a burial ceremony of the victims of the bombings of May 3, 2024 was held in Lushagala, North-Kivu. The ceremony was led by Albert Fabrice Puela, DRC Minister of Human Rights, and attended by other DRC government ministers and officials and the Governor of North-Kivu. During the ceremony, in Goma, preceding the burial Fabrice Puela said:
“The DRC condemns this new attack by Rwanda and will use all legal avenues to ensure that the perpetrators of these imprescriptible international crimes are prosecuted by our courts and by international jurisdictions based on the irrefutable material evidence in our possession.”
The people who attended the ceremony and the burial and others expressed their expectations to see the DRC government act on its promises.
©2024 AfroAmerica Network.
