Vincent Karega is accused of denying the massacre of more than a thousand people in Kasika, in the province of South Kivu, on August 24, 1998. A massacre attributed by the UN to the rebels of the Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD) and their Rwandan military allies.
The protests to demand the expulsion of Vincent Karega began a month ago. On Wednesday, dozens of citizen movement activists again took to the streets.
To the sound of megaphones and topped by banners and some photos of the victims of the massacres in the east of the country, the march started from the Huileries roundabout in Kinshasa shortly before noon. A hundred demonstrators then swept along this busy avenue, before being confronted by the police.
There were then violent arrests, denounced by Floribert Anzuluni of the citizen movement of Filimbi: “ It is unacceptable, unfortunately. We do not understand, citizen marches are needlessly repressed. Which is not normal, as we wrote forty-eight hours before and received no response. “
The demonstrators wanted to submit their memorandum to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. After negotiations with the police, only about 30 people were allowed to go to the ministry. And it was finally the minister’s chief of staff who received the document in which the activists questioned her.
“ The government is slow to come to terms with it by taking the necessary measures with regard to Mr. Karega. So this question arises: is he an indispensable diplomat for relations between the DRC and Rwanda? », Asks Nicole Kavira, of the Movement of Indignant about the security situation in the east of the country.
In addition to the expulsion of Vincent Karega, the activists demand the creation of an International Criminal Tribunal on the Congo to try crimes listed by the UN. A request that also carries the Nobel Peace Prize, Denis Mukwege.
RFI