Claiming to be threatened, the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize winner, the Congolese Denis Mukwege, finds himself at the heart of the tensions between his country and neighboring Rwanda, denouncing the impunity that accompanies the incessant killings in the east of the Democratic Republic. of Congo (DRC).
This Friday in Kinshasa, the security forces dispersed a rally of militants asking the Congolese authorities “the immediate expulsion” of the new ambassador of Rwanda. They accuse the diplomat, Vincent Karega, of showing “revisionism” by denying Rwanda’s role in one of the countless massacres which marked the two Congo wars (1996-2003) in the East.
“I am not a revisionist. I asked questions about accusations leveled against my country. I did not question the dead,” defends the Rwandan ambassador questioned by AFP.
The sit-in organizers also called for an end to threats against Dr Denis Mukwege. “Hands off the Nobel Prize,” read a poster held by a protester.
Famous for his defense of raped women and the care he gives them, the famous gynecologist feels threatened – without saying by whom – since he denounced a new massacre of civilians in July in his eastern province of South Kivu , at the border of Rwanda. This massacre was attributed to Rwandophone Tutsi Congolese (the Banyamulenge), in conflict with other Congolese communities.
Many Congolese believe that the Banyamulenge militias are supported by Rwanda to control eastern DRC and its land and mining resources, which Kigali rejects.
“These are the same people who continue to kill in the DRC (…) in line with the massacres that have struck the DRC since 1996”, denounced Mr. Mukwege at the end of July, without further clarification.
The doctor calls for the establishment of an international court to prosecute the perpetrators of the massacres committed in eastern DRC since that time.
As he did again this week in front of MEPs, he quotes a 2010 United Nations report, violently criticized by Rwanda. This investigation documents “617 violent incidents committed between 1993 and 2003”.
“Certain acts could even constitute crimes of genocide, if they were brought to the attention of a competent court”, he added, repeating the conclusions of the report.
– “Propaganda instrument” –
The report targets all the armed forces and their militias which took part in the two wars in Congo sometimes qualified as “African world war”: DRC (ex-Zaire), Uganda, Burundi, Angola, and, of course, the Rwandan army of Paul Kagame.
In 1994, Paul Kagame and his troops put an end to the genocide of at least 800,000 people, mainly belonging to the Tutsi minority, by driving the extremist Hutu regime from power in Rwanda.
In 1996-1998, Paul Kagame’s army tracked down hundreds of thousands of Hutu refugees in the DRC, supporting the Congolese rebellion of Laurent-Désiré Kabila against the old dictator Mobutu Sese Seko.
“The systematic and widespread attacks” by the Rwandan army within the Congolese rebellion against the Hutus in the DRC “could be qualified as crimes of genocide”, reads the report defended by Dr Mukwege.
This is obviously unacceptable for Paul Kagame, still in power in Rwanda. The report was called in mid-August “an instrument of propaganda” by his brother in arms, the former Rwandan Minister of Defense, James Kabarebe.
At the head of the Rwandan forces in the DRC between 1996 and 1998, General Kabarebe also called Dr Mukwege “an instrument used by the families of those who lost the war”.
Words that were perceived in the DRC as threats against the doctor.
“General Kabarebe did not utter any threats. He finds that there are too many far-fetched accusations in this report,” explains the Rwandan ambassador in Kinshasa.
In 2010, Rwanda denounced this United Nations report as an attempt to “rewrite history” and “inappropriately distribute the responsibility for the genocide that took place in Rwanda”.
“For justice to be served, there would have to be (…) very effective judicial cooperation with all the countries involved, in particular Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda, which does not yet exist”, lamented Dr Mukwege facing MEPs on Tuesday.
“I think that Rwanda should also answer for its acts”, he insisted, about the clashes between the Rwandan and Ugandan armies in Kisangani, in the east of the DRC, in June 2000, another traumatic episode of the Congo wars.
Taking a large part of public opinion off guard, Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi has approached Paul Kagame since his inauguration in January 2019.
“The lack of political will and + realpolitik + have for too long prevailed over the need and thirst for justice and truth. It is in this context that the massacres continue with complete impunity”, slipped the Nobel Peace Prize in front of MEPs.
On Friday evening, the human rights NGO Amnesty International called on the Congolese government and the United Nations to take “urgent and concrete measures” to ensure the protection of Mr. Mukwege.