For thirteen months, the extreme east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has once again been the scene of deadly fighting opposing, on the one hand, local militias and Congolese regular forces to the Mouvement du 23 mars (M23), a rebel group supported by Rwanda. Doctor Denis Mukwege, Nobel Peace Prize in 2018, denounces the inaction and hypocrisy of the international community, as well as the corruption of the Congolese authorities in the face of this tragedy which has lasted for nearly thirty years.
How do you explain the resurgence of deadly violence in eastern DRC since November 2021?
Because, in the Congo, impunity is the norm. Our country is like a jewelry store with no doors or windows. Everyone can massacre populations with impunity, as in Kishishe [dans la province du Nord-Kivu, les 29 et 30 novembre, où au moins 131 personnes sont mortes], plunder our wealth, then sell it on the international market. Meanwhile, the whole world turns a blind eye. This is what is happening with the M23, a terrorist movement supported by Rwanda.
It’s not from yesterday. The twenty-five-year-old security and humanitarian crisis in eastern Congo is the most neglected in the world. A crisis which, however, has already caused the death of more than 6 million people and displaced 5.8 million others. A third of the population is hungry.
What is the Congolese state doing?
In the east of the country, there are 120 national and foreign armed groups there. What is Kinshasa’s response? He calls on external armed forces [celles envoyées par les pays membres de la Communauté économique des Etats de l’Afrique centrale] who come with their own agenda to bite into their piece of the pie. Result, it is again the civil population which pays the tribute. It’s dramatic, especially since the rest of the world is watching without doing anything. The Congo lives in a situation of organized chaos, its population reduced to a form of modern slavery, with the aim of plundering its rare earths and strategic minerals. All this to meet the needs of new technologies and the energy transition.
In Luanda, Nairobi or New York, diplomats are trying to find a way out of this crisis…
We are attacked by Rwanda. It is recognized. The French ambassador to the United Nations called” horror “ the Kishishe massacre. But after ? What next? Nothing. Unfortunately, we do not see the international community moved as it does for Ukraine, where the aggressor country – Russia – is sanctioned, isolated. European policy towards the Great Lakes region is totally incoherent.
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