Congolese refugees housed in the Nkamira camp in Rubavu District have moved to protest the genocide against the Tutsis and other predominantly Kinyarwanda-speaking people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
The protestors are asking international organizations to help them and request the government of Kinshasa to stop the genocide against the Tutsis in North Kivu, the Genocide against the Mulenges in South Kivu and the Genocide against the Hema people in Ituri.
It is a peaceful protest, they say that their life is bitter, they want peace in their country and go home, Most of the refugees in Rwanda say that they started fleeing after some of their family members started being killed because they were Tutsi, others fled after being hunted and their property was taken away.
Shukuru Clarisse, a mother of four, fled to Rwanda from Rutshuru Territory. She says she fled in October 2023 after her Tutsi husband, members of the Wazalendo and FDLR groups, found her in the house and tortured her and finally took her away.
He said, “They entered the house saying that they came to look for the enemy, when they asked them what they wanted, they started beating him in front of the children and accused him of being a Tutsi. They covered his face with a cloth and took him away without knowing his fate. As the days passed I looked for him and gave up, but Wazalendo always visited me and I chose to run away from the children.”
Shukuru and his four children are in Nkamira camp where he says life is not stable, He said, “Life here is not good, we are asking international organizations to advocate for us so that the Genocide against the Tutsis stops, so that we can return to our homes. Here we are helped, but we are not living as well as we used to live at home.”
Some of the refugees in the Nkamira camp say that they have been murdered for many years since 1994, when those who left the Genocide against the Tutsis in Rwanda fled to the former Zaire.
They say, “The genocide against the Tutsis in Rwanda was stopped and continued in the Congo. The FDLR has been killing the Tutsis for a long time and taking them with them, but the government is watching and doing nothing, instead it has given them tools and put them in Wazalendo. It has given them the ability to kill us with the M23 war. We ask the government to stop the genocide. we are served, so that we can return to our own.”
In protesting the Genocide against the Tutsis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the refugees in the Nkamira camp say “We protest the Genocide against the Tutsis in North Kivu, the Mulenges in South Kivu and the Hemas in Ituri.”
Rwanda hosts more than 80 thousand Congolese refugees who are accommodated in Nkamira camp in Rubavu District, Kigeme in Nyamagabe District, Kiziba in Karongi District, Mahama in Kirehe District and Nyabiheke in Gatsibo District.
