DRC: new massacres of Hutu

A week after  massacres targeting rwandophones in the area of Walikale,  abuses against them in the Masisi area are also reported. The perpetrators are the Congolese self-defense groups including the Raia Mutomboki – Mayi-Mayi militiamen.

Map of Masisi

Since the outbreak of a war in the East of the DRC, last  April (2012), between the Congolese army and Rwandan-backed rebels of the M23 (Mouvement du 23 mars), the civilians who have a  Rwandan origin are  victim of blind violence. It is an atrocious scene which is held in margin of the war which opposes the Congolese regular army and the rebels of M23. Indeed, a group of self-defense Mai – Mai, named Raia Mutomboki that controls the city ofWalikaleinNorthern Kivuand where they drove out the regular army on July 17, engaged in a true ” Rwandophones hunt” in the streets of Walikale.

The BBC and Radio Okapi reported on 17 July  2012, that the Maï – Maï militia engaged in abuses against persons speaking the Kinyanrwanda. Several cases of murders in which people  had their throats cut have been reported and about 48 Rwandophones of Hutu ethnic  group are victims of these militia Maï – Maï. The 48 had to be evacuated by the blue helmets of Monusco towards the city ofGummed(http://radiookapi.net/actualite/2012/07/19/walikale-la-monusco-evacue-48-hutus-rwandais-victimes-datrocites-de-raia-mutomboki/). The victims are mainly Hutu Rwandans who fled their country following the arrival of RPF, some of them are simple tradesmen who have settled in the area of Walikale for a few years now.

Since 1996, these Hutu (refugees and indigenous) have regularly been victims of massacres committed by the Rwandan army through rebel movements, that areI founded by that army in Eastern DRC. A United Nations report released in 2010 known as the “Mapping Report”, accused theKigaliregime of having committed in the DRC from 1996 to 2003 atrocities including war crimes, crimes against humanity and if proven before a competent court crimes of genocide.

On 23 July 2012, the rwandophone area of Masisi was once more attacked by the militia May-May, Raia Mutomboki. The targeted localities are Marangara, Nyamyumba, Kamonyi and Nyakigano with Masisi which underwent a fatal raid of this militia, several local NGOs reported to the BBC. The assessment of this attack is heavy: about fifteen people, all Rwandophones were killed, and more than 600 cows flights. The local population is dismayed by the behavior of the police force and the national army which did not condescend to help the persecuted people.

Jean Mitari

Jambonews.net