“Truth is ever to be found in the simplicity and not in the multiplicity and confusion of things”–Isaac Newton
“And simple truth miscalled simplicity” – William Shakespeare
[This article is Part 2 of “Sun City: How the Anglo American Networks Took Power in Rwanda and DRC Using Tutsi Supremacy and Minority Rights”—Editors]
Paul Kagame`s Rwanda Fabricated an Enemy
The people behind the networks of corporate power blocks, the global supply chain from Congo`s minerals, namely cobalt, have written a play about rebel militias known by their various acronyms such as M23 and ADF, which wage war in eastern Congo. They want us to believe that it is a complex situation filled with numerous rebel groups all vying for Congolese minerals. This play has been running for nearly 30 years in the theater of the world`s media. It is time it ended.
The United States needed the 9/11 Twin Towers terrorist attack in order to justify its “War on Terror.” The U.S. and the Anglo American-dominated NATO alliance used 9/11 as a pretext for the invasion and occupation of Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya, as well as the imposition of more military bases around the world, occupation of Somalia and attempted regime change and destruction of Syria.
For the NATO alliance countering terrorism means creating enough chaos to force foreign, formerly sovereign, states to submit to their rules-based order of democracy, human rights and the International Monetary Fund and World Bank`s neo-liberal economics. The rules-based order is Western supremacy.
As stated by President Bashar al-Assad of Syria and President Ibrahim Traoré of Burkina Faso—neo-liberalism and extremist terrorism are two sides of the same coin.
“Today there are 2 potential dangers in the war. One is the Western neo-liberalism led by the United States and the other is extremism. All countries are facing the two threats. They may seem different but they are really one and the same.”
Apartheid South Africa was white supremacy of a minority of less than 20% of the population. It maintained power by banning the African National Congress (ANC) and surrounding itself with enemies. Behind the scenes Apartheid South Africa ran the war in Angola by supporting Jonas Savimbi and his UNITA Party. It ran RENAMO Mozambiquan anticommunist rebels and later political party) in Mozambique to fight against FRELIMO (Frente de Libertacao Mocambique, leftist anti-coloinal party founded by Samora Machel and Eduardo Mondlane). It supported the regime of Ian Smith in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe).
Apartheid South Africa justified itself to the world by appearing to be a prosperous and peaceful nation surrounded by war and poverty while it was the instigator of its own enemies. Apartheid South Africa did exactly what Israel is doing now.
Apartheid South Africa, white South Africa of the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s created the image of white persecution, a peaceful and prosperous nation persecuted by “communist terrorist insurgents,” which was the phrase repeated every night on State television in reference to the ANC.
While it is not white supremacist, Rwanda is in many ways the mirror of Apartheid South Africa. It presents itself as an island of peace and prosperity surrounded by enemies, war and poverty.
Israel has always presented itself as a peaceful and prosperous nation persecuted by its Arab neighbors. Israelis are indoctrinated to believe they are surrounded by terrorist states.
Rwanda is the creator of its own enemies. Rwanda has created the war in Congo. Rwanda has created the fictional threat of Tutsi persecution.
“The enemy has always played the victim to make a business out of it” – President Felix Tshisekedi
War in Eastern Congo Is Utopian-Level Deregulation for Western MNCs
Multi-national corporations, predominantly South African Anglo American and DeBeers benefited from war in Angola during Apartheid because they were given access to Angolan diamonds and gold, which were illicitly traded through the South African market, already rich in diamonds and gold.
Roland “Tiny” Rowland of Lonrho acted as the Anglo American agent dealing with Jonas Savimbi. The diamond trade, like the coltan and cobalt trade of today, links to the multi-national corporations and the people behind the political scenes.
Under Paul Kagame, Rwanda`s role is to maintain insecurity in eastern Congo. As political analyst Shahid Bolsen noted:
“Kagame is widely viewed in Africa as a Western neo-liberal puppet….You can look at chaos and violence, in the perspective of neo-liberalism, it is utopian-level deregulation. Chaos and violence [are] the ideal suspension of any type of regulation or law, or rules, that investors, multi nationals, that they have to abide by, that they have to follow. So all the rules go out the window when it`s a war zone, when it`s a conflict zone. So that gives you free open, Wild West style access to the riches under the earth. Giving them access to what are called now `Conflict Minerals,` or Blood Diamonds, Blood Minerals. That`s what they are trading in. That`s what powers your iPhone and your electric cars.”
Bolsen continued: “Kagame has run Rwanda according to IMF dictates, structural adjustment reforms, neo-liberal, macro-economic recommendations and so on. He is hollowing out the public sector and privatizing all State assets, selling them off to Western multi-nationals. One of his top advisers is a former World Bank official. And BlackRock, the largest asset management firm in the world, has partnered with Rwanda`s Sovereign Wealth Fund to manage a portion of their portfolio.”
Creating an Enemy for the Tutsi
The image of Tutsi persecution in the Great Lakes began to be generated by members within the Tutsi aristocratic clans removed from power in Rwanda after the social revolution. The social revolution was a revolution against Tutsi imperialism and its inherent inequality.
The propaganda that has smeared the social revolution is explained in`The Emancipation of the Rwandan People,` the written speech by Keith Harmon Snow for the convention of the Rwandan People’s Government in Exile (GREX).
Snow stated: “The RPF has successfully inculcated the lie that the founders of the Hutu Social Movement and the events of the 1960s were part of the Hutu plan to exterminate the Tutsis. This is patently false.”
The Tutsi aristocracy had assumed power in Ruanda-Burundi before German and then Belgian colonization. The Tutsi monarchy presided over an extremely cruel feudal system.
This is the system, by and large, that Paul Kagame has reintroduced to Rwanda. As stated by former RPF Secretary General Theogene Rudasingwa: “Rwanda is like one giant prison with multiple prisons inside.”
Kagame`s Tutsi elite are the beneficiaries of Rwanda`s seemingly prosperous economy, which is propped up by UK and U.S. foreign aid.
The mass slaughter in Kigali in 1994 was facilitated and sanctioned by forces outside of Rwanda.
The objective of what is termed the Rwandan Genocide was the creation of an enemy of the Tutsi to justify Paul Kagame`s Rwanda.
Special Status
” There is no such tribe that is called Banyamulenge here in the Democratic Republic of Congo.” – Martin Fayulu, Congolese presidential candidate in 2018 elections said to the actual winner.
The Banyamulenge are the Congolese Tutsi. The Rwandan backed M23 use the Banyamulenge communities in North Kivu as the pretext for their militarization as they claim that the Congolese tutsis are persecuted.
Their primary demand is to be allocated land by the Congolese State. If they are already Congolese, why do they feel the need to be allocated special status and allocated pieces of Congo? If they are Congolese, they already live on their land, it is logical, yes?
But the Banyamulenge want to behave like the Jewish settler communities. The Banyamulenge are Rwandan expansionism under the guise of minority persecution.
There are approximately 400 ethnic groups or tribes in DRC which has a population of 102 million. The Banyamulenge are granted special status under Congolese statutes. There are numerous politicians, members of the Senate and Parliament, who are Banyamulenge. They are, in fact, over-represented.
The claim that there are 600,000 Banyamulenge is an unlikely figure. To be a minority ethnic group they would have to be fewer than 100,000 persons. Their community leader in 2022 put the number at 300,000 while the DRC government states it is 50,000-60,000.
All Congolese ethnic groups are identified from their languages and located to a well-specified area/land that carries, most of the time, the name of its population. For example, the Bashi speak Mashi as their language and their area is called Bushi, which is spread over the three territories of Kabare, Walungu and Mwanga.
The Balega speak Kilega, the Babembe speak Kibembe, the Bangala speak Lingala , the Bakongo speak Kikongo, and the Baluba speak Tshiluba. But you will never find a language called “Kinyamulenge,” even in the classifications of Guthrie and other linguists who classified Bantu languages.
The Banyamulenge are the only ethnic group which claim persecution. The DRC is the only Great Lakes country in which Tutsi communities claim persecution. Tanzania, Uganda, Malawi and Burundi all have sizeable Tutsi populations, none of whom currently claim persecution.
In fact, the war in the east of Congo has, ironically, united Congolese as never before. They are united by their common enemy, Paul Kagame.
Hate Speech
In a propaganda piece par excellence, Kagame acolyte Felix Ndahinda, writing for the Clingendael Institute[1] and the Journal for Genocide Research states that democracy and stability in the DRC can only be achieved by addressing anti-Tutsi hate speech and conspiracy theories.
“Failure to design enforceable legislation, policies, and comprehensive peace education and messaging strategy to address hate speech and conspiracy theories in the DRC is likely to continuously jeopardize other peacebuilding interventions in the DRC.”
The propaganda piece proposes that dissent in DRC against Rwandan-backed M23 and all the Banyamulenge actors in the violence must be stopped in order for Congo to achieve “democracy” and stability. In other words, free speech must be silenced.[2]
As within Paul Kagame`s Rwanda, free speech must be made a criminal offense. An example of the criminalization of free speech is Victoire Ingabire who was imprisoned, not for denying the genocide but for simply questioning the events preceding it and the process of the event.
Ndahinda writes:
“Established in 2012, the M23 claims to fight for a more inclusive society that offers security guarantees for all, particularly for Kinyarwanda-speaking populations who have faced discrimination for decades and for a safe return of Congolese refugees in neighboring countries.”
When Ndahinda talks about Kinyarwanda-speaking Congolese, he misleads because Kinyarwanda is well classified by linguists, not Congolese, as the only ethnic language Rwandans speak that they do not share with any other community or country.
M23 use sexual humiliation to force communities into working with them. If communities refuse, they will be executed using a torture technique called Akandoya.
“Akandoya is a torture technique first used by Museveni’s National Resistance Army during the Luwero Triangle terror in Uganda (1980-1985), adopted by Museveni’s protégé and Director of Military Intelligence Paul Kagame, routinely used by Kagame’s RPA during the Rwandan Civil War (1990-1994), and it is a signature reminder of the unrelenting atrocities committed by the Rwandan and Ugandan militias in Congo.”[3]
Torture by sexual humiliation involves forcing family members, at gunpoint, to perform sexual intercourse upon each other. For example, fathers are forced to rape their daughters and sons are forced to rape their mothers.
M23 are infamously known for rape. This is often committed using objects such as sticks which leave women and girls incapable of bearing children. Women combatants of the M23 are known to participate in these grotesque acts of cruelty.
Wikipedia sanitizes the M23 and supports the narrative that they are protecting a minority ethnic group when in fact M23 are Paul Kagame’s terrorists on Congolese territory. The absurdly numerous number of militia groups known by their acronyms is all part of a theatre to obscure reality and confuse the Western public.
FDLR, Les Forces démocratiques de libération du Rwanda
The M23 and its predecessor CNDP justify themselves as protecting the Congolese Tutsis against persecution from the FDLR and FARDC, Forces Armées de la République Démocratique du Congo.
Paul Kagame uses the FDLR as the pretext for Rwandan incursions in DRC. Rwandan troops on Congolese territory now amount to 4,000 according to a recent UN report.
This is patently absurd. Even the United Nations’ voice of authority and gatekeeper extraordinaire, Jason Stearns, attests to the lack of threat that the FDLR pose to Rwandan national security. He wrote in 2022:
“This is misleading for several reasons: First, it suggests that the FDLR is a real threat to Rwanda. This depends on the definition of “threat.” In 2012, the UN Panel of Experts estimated that the FDLR consisted of 1,500 to 2,000 men. By 2020, the group had been reduced to 500-1,000. Targeted operations by the Rwandan and Congolese armies since then have further reduced its strength. Today, the FDLR poses a very serious threat to Congolese civilians but is only able to launch rare raids into Rwanda. The last large-scale attack in Rwanda, involving hundreds of rebels and killing several civilians, was in 2001 It is of course unacceptable that even small attacks take place, but the way Rwanda is reacting is disproportionate and counterproductive.” [Emphases in original.]
Kagame`s FDLR
Known as the FDLR Rasta, this mirror image of the original FDLR were formed by Paul Kagame using prisoners from Rwandan prisons. This counterfeit FDLR is simply M23 in different clothing.
The original FDLR formed out of FAR. FAR were the Force Armées du Rwanda who were the Rwandan army under the government of Juvénal Habyarimana. The original FDLR formed 30 years ago. The original FAR soldiers would now be at least 50 years old. The FDLR never had a base. It is exceedingly difficult to live as a guerrilla force for 30 years. The original FDLR assimilated into local communities a long time ago.
Why would the FDLR attack Congolese communities when they live in Congo? It is absurd. The objective of the original FDLR was to get rid of Paul Kagame.
About ten years ago the FDLR had an online website where they issued press statements. They used this platform to refute many of the accusations of atrocities that had been attributed to them.
Attempts were made by MONUSCO to repatriate several hundred FDLR combatants during the Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration program, DDR, after its introduction in 2002.
They refused to return to certain death.
ADF, Allied Democratic Forces
The original ADF stem from the Ugandan Bush War of the 1980s. It is absurd to consider they still have any connection to their origin. The ADF are a Ugandan paramilitary operating for Museveni`s family, Paul Kagame and their connected financial partners.
CODECO, Coopérative pour le développement du Congo
CODECO operate in Ituri Province. They, like the “ADF,” are responsible for some of the most egregious atrocities.
They bury people alive, massacre entire communities with machetes, decapitate men, and violate women and young girls. Ituri is a very, very dark place where the situation is horrible and statistics about brutalities are terrifying. CODECO are ADF.
The Kilo-Moto gold belt runs through Ituri Province and contains more than likely the richest deposits of gold on Earth.
The original CODECO was an agricultural cooperative that had assistance from Ugandans and was a good effort to help farmers in Ituri increase production.
The “acronym militias” are the smoke and mirrors theater that the world`s media present to obscure the fundamental reality of the mercenary forces of Rwanda and Uganda protecting the assets of the Western multi-nationals and the global supply chain and corporate power blocks. They keep the war going to maintain the utopian level deregulation.
The Congolese have been subjected to one of, if not the most, grotesque colonial experiences, to the most appalling conditions and suffering but most of all is the wall of silence that stops their story from being told. In order to restore some sense of justice Paul Kagame and Yoweri Museveni need to be held accountable and brought before an international war crimes tribunal.
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The Clingendael Institute is based in The Hague, home to the International Criminal Court (ICC) which prosecutes only people of color. It is an independent think tank and academy on international affairs which claims to contribute to a secure, sustainable and just world. ↑
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Free speech is under attack in the West by governments that want to use “hate speech” legislation to control the narrative. ↑
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https://covertactionmagazine.com/2024/07/18/how-the-anglo-american-network-took-power-in-rwanda-and-drc-using-tutsi-supremacists-and-minority-rights/ ↑
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About the Author
PD Lawton was born in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa.
She is an independent writer, researcher and editor and founder of africanagenda.net.
Because of her belief in the need for the industrialization of all African economies, she writes about hard infrastructure such as the African Continental High Speed railway network and energy generation including nuclear, all needed to address Africa`s chronic energy deficit.
She has a degree from the University of Life and is the co-author of the recently published book `Fathers of Pan-Africanism`
Ms. Lawton can be reached at pdlawton0@gmail.com.
