Congolese in SA protest against DRC genocide
CONGOLESE-SA youth and children of nationals who fled their home country led a march against what has been widely referred to as the ongoing silent genocide in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The march, from Hanover Street in District Six to Parliament on Saturday, was convened by the Congolese Civil Society of SA.
It was endorsed and supported by human rights and solidarity organisations, some of which included the SA Federation of Trade Unions, Rural Women’s Assembly, WOMIN, TCOE, Cry of the Xcluded, Africa Unite, Palestine Solidarity Campaign, SA Jews for a Free Palestine, Tshisimani Centre for Activist Education and Bertha House.
Since 1996, about 6 million people have been killed in the eastern part of the mineral-rich DRC, either directly or indirectly as a result of the conflict.
The region has more than 100 armed rebel groups who have been carrying out mass murders, rape, and large-scale looting, resulting in mass displacement and an alarming humanitarian crisis.
One of the key figures fingered in arming the rebel groups was the Rwandan government. This could be seen in the caricatured image of President Paul Kagame carried by protesters as the Rwandan government has been accused of providing military support to the March 23 Movement, or M23, a claim denied by Rwanda.
Initiator of the march Noelle Isaacs, 18, from Wynberg, said: “The reason why there’s not much international coverage on the situation is because the Western allies/Western superpowers do take part in this genocide. There is evidence that they have been funding the Rwandan rebels so obviously they won’t stand against it when they are involved as well.”
The DRC has previously claimed that an estimated $1 billion (R18.78bn) was lost annually as a result of smuggling of minerals to Rwanda.
Congolese Civil Society of SA vice-chairperson, Joe Yves Salankang, said 10 million people have been killed in 30 years, however, this was not a “big concern” in Africa or globally.
“We have two kinds of war in the world. There is a war where people are fighting each other and that is when we see people voicing out and trying to stop it, and also a situation like ours where the war is fuelling and feeding the economy of the world.”