October 1996 the start of Massacres against Rwandan Hutus Refugees in DRC up to now by Rwandan Army

The month of October should be a memorial for refugees in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Let us put few minutes aside and think about these refugees massacred by Rwandan Army in DRC just because they are Hutus.

Please help these refugees now here ” https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/support-100-elderly-idps-in-eastern-drcongo/

Pictures of the current Rwandan Hutus Refugees in Goma, during a meeting at our offices. How can you tell us that these people are FDRL?

The Democratic Republic of Congo hosts millions of refugees from Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, South Sudan, Central African Republic, and Angola among others. The statistics of refugees in DRC is unknown, as some have existed in the country over the years, and now believe they are Congolese. What is important is that they are there in our communities, we live with them and no one will remove that fact.

Please in case you want to know something about refugees in DRC, do not read what UNHCR has published, they are nice narrative and objective information from Medecins Sans Frontiere, the International Committee of the Red Cross among others but also the thee best way is to engage with people at the community level.

However in 1994 a big number of refugees from Rwanda fleeing the Genocide entered into Zaire (currently the Democratic Republic of Congo), their number is also not known but we estimate them at about more than 4 million people who fled to DRC in 1994, hosted in both South Kivu and North Kivu generally.

However many were massacred, others deported back to Rwanda, and others are still in DRC, they have multiplied also and more than 90% of the Rwandan Hutus Refugee Generation in DRC now, were either born in DRC or came when they were too young.

The first massacre of refugees in DRC happened in October and also the assassinations of those who defended them.

In October 1996 Rwanda deployed its Army in Eastern DRC, and bunt the very first refugee camp in Luvunge Kamanyola South Kivu, thousands of refugees are bunt and killed in that camp, no one knows the exact number of those who were killed. Very weak, vulnerable and defenseless, the Rwandan Army did not spear as mere civilians looking for protection.

And since then, the massacre against refugees continued up to now in eastern DRC. In this month of October also three Archbishops of Bukavu who advocated for the protection of refugees were killed, this month of October is just symbolic.

How many refugees have been massacred by Rwanda Army in DRC since 1996 up to now? No clear information about this, no indication about the sites or areas of massacres against refugees, but they have been massacred in millions.

Why were they massacred?

Most of Rwandan refugees in DRC are Hutus and the regime in Rwanda is Tutsi. The current regime in Rwanda claims that all Hutu Refugees in DRC are genocidaires that means that they participated in genocide in Rwanda in 1994 before crossing to DRC, and for that they should be all killed. But even if this claim was to be believed, what about those who were children, elderly and other vulnerable Hutus who did not play a role in the genocide, why are they killed? And what about those being massacred up to now who were born on DRC soil and have no idea about Rwanda? And above all all those massacred in various camps were not fighters, they were mere vulnerable refugees.

Is it possible to eliminate completely the entire ethnicity of Hutus in DRC? And is this the best way to handle the question of power sharing in Rwanda between Hutus and Tutsis?

Are Hutus refugees in DRC all Armed against Rwanda or they are civilians?

For Rwanda and its allies within the International Community, all Rwandan Hutus refugees in DRC are associated to “the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda known as FDLR” which is believed to be composed of fighters who were involved in the genocide. This has been highly publicized but it is not true, we have thousands of civilian Hutus refugees extremely vulnerable in search for protection since they came in 1994 up to now, and these Hutus refugees are not even living in areas controlled by FDLR, even if there is a debate if there are areas controlled by FDLR in DRC currently. Generally the attention is not put on these civilians and how they are living, intentionally people especially the Cameras focus on FDLR and no one talks about Rwandan refugees in DRC especially Hutus Rwandan Refugees.

This month of October, please join us to talk about Rwandan refugees in DRC.

We are proud that we have been at front line trying to share with you a different narrative about these people who were deliberately put aside. Please act now and support our advocacy for the effective protection of Rwandan Hutus refugees in DRC, you can donate to this cause through this link ” https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/support-100-elderly-idps-in-eastern-drcongo/

 

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