The United States Secretary of State, Antony Blinken who concluded his two-day visit to Rwanda yesterday, openly called out President Tshisekedi to put an end to the continued crimes against humanity – including a silent genocide – that Congolese authorities are inflicting against Congolese Kinyarwanda-speaking Tutsi citizens of DR Congo.
Rwanda has never ceased to urge Kinshasa to shun hate speech and ethnic stereotyping against Kinyarwanda-speaking Tutsi citizens of DRC and Rwandans living in that country, a quest that always falls on deaf ears as the Tutsi witch-hunting campaign is increasingly getting worse as days go by.
“We know that Rwandans are also alarmed justifiably by the increase in hate speech, in the DRC targeting Rwandaphones,” Secretary Blinken keenly said while addressing a press conference in Kigali.
“The United States will continue to condemn such unacceptable and dangerous rhetoric and I encourage President Tshisekedi as government to do the same.” The top U.S diplomat added.
Blinken echoed members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), who last month also demanded Kinshasa to “stop with immediate effect” hate speech, and crimes that the Tshisekedi regime commits against those it labels “enemies” of DRC – those are mainly Tutsi, Kinyarwanda-speaking Congolese.
To add insult to injury, Tshisekedi unveiled a militia wing dubbed “Brigade Spéciale de l’UDPS” which is under the aegis of his ruling political party, UDPS. The youthful members of the new militia strut around with machetes, spears, and hammers among other crude weapons while intimidating and killing Kinyarwanda-speaking Tutsi citizens of DRC.
That’s in addition to evidence of a blatant genocide campaign targeting Congolese of Tutsi ethnicity that includes a $15,000 bounty that Congolese authorities recently announced as the reward to whoever kills high-profile Congolese Tutsi in the DR Congo government.
The world must stop watching by translating words into action. Given the fact that DRC is a member of ICC, the court should therefore weigh in and indict the senior Congolese authorities for crimes against humanity, for they are not above the law.