The stream of outlandish, anti-Rwanda claims from Kinshasa and its Western media sycophants shows no sign of stopping. If anything, it is accelerating. The latest allegation may be the most absurd yet.
According to Kinshasa-appointed governor of South Kivu province, Jean-Jacques Purusi, 171 bodies were discovered in two mass graves on the outskirts of Uvira – allegedly following the withdrawal of AFC/M23 rebels. To no one’s surprise the man immediately blamed the revolutionaries for the deaths.
Purusi provided not a single piece of material evidence to back his claim. No photographs. No forensic reports. Nothing.
Yet Western outlets — Reuters, ABC, AFP and others — gleefully ran the story anyway, while casually noting in the fine print that they “could not independently verify” the claims.
Is this journalism now? Publishing headlines about mass graves you have neither seen nor been shown evidence for?
The most absurd part is that the area in question is under regime control. When similar allegations were made about Kishishe — 141 dead — Amnesty International could only confirm around 20 bodies, without establishing whether they were combatants or civilians caught in crossfire.
Then there were claims of 300 Hutu farmers killed in Rutshuru — again, no material evidence. And the wildly inflated figure of 10,000 deaths in Goma, when the Red Cross reported roughly 900 burials following intense fighting.
In each case, AFC/M23 called for an independent investigation. MONUSCO’s explanation for the absence of verified facts was always the same: UN investigators could not safely access AFC/M23-controlled areas.
So what is the excuse now?
If Uvira is under state control, why are there no images? No documented forensic process? No independent observers invited in as the investigation — if there is one — proceeds?
The answer is obvious.
Kinshasa’s forces committed atrocities in Uvira after the M23 withdrawal. Banyamulenge civilians were killed. Those who found refuge in Minembwe continue to be targeted. Property in Uvira was looted. Minembwe is being shelled. Those perceived as sympathetic to AFC/M23 and unable to flee were reportedly executed.
These are serious war crimes amidst blatant ceasefire violations.
And inventing mass graves allegedly committed by freedom fighters is a convenient way to deflect attention.
But propaganda cannot substitute for evidence.
It will not work.
ellenkampire