Pay attention, world: DRC genocide threatens humanity

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), formally known as Zaire, gained its independence from Belgium in 1960. It is the third largest country located in central Africa.

Since the late 1990s, after the Rwandan civil war and genocide, there has been an ongoing struggle for both power and liberty within the DRC’s borders which has led to the death of millions.  And yet the current genocide in the Congo has largely gone unreported.

According to Jeanyves Ngabonziza senior environmental engineering major, and Rwandan civil war and genocide survivor, Mobutu Sese Sekothe former president of Zaire, had strong ties with former Rwandan president Juvénal Habyarimana whose life ended after his plane was shot down in 1994.

When the Tutsi rebellion defeated the Hutu regime and won the war in Rwanda in 1994, many Hutus were exiled to the Congo, and became refugees. Ngabonziza explained that Mobutu’s government began to train the Hutu refugees so that they “…could come back and attack the new established Rwandan government.”

As the Hutu regime began to gain strength, Sekothe supported the social cleansing of the Congo, which targeted the banyamulenge, who are Congolese Tutsis.  As a result, many Tutsis fled to the newly formed no partisan Rwandan government.

In response, enraged Tutsi forces led by Laurent-Désiré Kabila fought and won the war against Sekothe and the Congolese government. Sekothe then fled the country, and Kabila was named president in 1997. He then changed the name of the country from Zaire to the Democratic Republic of Congo. After his rise to power, Kabila turned his back on the Tutsi forces, and sided with the Hutu militia. Ngabonziza explained that Kabila began to act exactly as Sekothe did, ordering attacks on the banyamulenge, while using force in an effort to drive them from the Congo.

The conflict led to Kabila’s assassination in January of 2001 by one of his bodyguards. Shortly after, his son, Joseph Kabila Kabange took his position, and followed the same agenda, supporting segregation, and “social cleansing.”
The DRC is categorized as a democracy; however, it is not. It closely resembles a dictatorship. Ngabonziza explained that there is still strong support for segregation between Hutus and Tutsis within the country. They have even gone as far as setting up roadblocks, and ordering the people to seperate. “If people didn’t want to separate… they would kill everybody...The main problem is that the genocide has now gone over there. If the Congolese government stoppe supporting it, it would solve a lot of the problems.”

Laurent Nkunda, current leader of the rebel faction operating in the southeast providence of Nord-Kivu is fighting a war against both the DRC government, and the United Nations. According to a recent Associated Press article, this warfare has uprooted some 200,000 citizens from their homes. The United Nations has described this as “…a humanitarian crisis of catastrophic dimensions,” causing civil unrest, and large food shortages. Despite billions in aid, and the deployment of the world’s largest peacekeeping force, a January 2008 International Rescue Committee survey found that 5,400,000 people have died from war-related causes in Congo since 1998. “It is unjust that people in their own country are not treated fairly by their own government,” said Ngabonziza.

When asked about the press coverage, Ngabonziza said that it has been adequate in recent years; however, many still do not know of the mayhem that is happening in the DRC.

The Beacon feels that the fighting within the DRC needs to be addressed. If  5,400,000 people have died from war-related causes, the American people, as well as governments across the world need to pay attention.  One death would be too many.  Over 5 million is catastrophic to all of humanity. The bloodshed needs to stop. This fighting will not cease until democracy and equality is established within the DRC borders, just like neighboring Rwanda did in 1994.