This morning, we had another meeting with the Chairman of M23, Bertrand Bisimwa, in Bukavu for our documentary on the Great Lakes. We discussed their goals, which align with what he stated in our initial meeting in Addis Ababa two weeks ago:
๐๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ฒ๐บ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ๐:
1. They don’t want war but peace and unity.
2. They want Kinshasa to honor previous agreements made in 2012.
3. Among what they believe Kinshasa must honor is the reintegration of M23 fighters back into the national army. Many of them are former Congolese army members who want to help secure the country from foreign actors.
4. They want free and fair elections in which all political parties can freely participate.
5. They want their families to return home to their ancestral land from refugee camps in Uganda and Rwanda to live in peace in a functional country.
6. Other issues will be part of negotiations between the parties.
๐ช๐ถ๐น๐น๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ผ ๐ก๐ฒ๐ด๐ผ๐๐ถ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ
They are ready and have been ready to sit down and renegotiate with the Congolese government and its partners to come up with a peaceful solution to the eastern DRC .
๐ก๐ผ ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป
They do not want secession from Congo, as they are Congolese people who have no interest in seeing their country divided.
I then asked him the following questions in bold and below the questions are the answers:
๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ถ๐ ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ผ๐ ๐๐ผ ๐ณ๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐?
“We are defending ourselves from persecution and the loss of our ancestral lands, which has forced our families to live in refugee camps. Many members of our organization have not visited their grandparentsโ farms for over 30 years due to persecution.
Whenever our government fails to deliver services to its people, they resort to xenophobia, blaming their problems on the Kinyarwanda-speaking population. They call them foreigners, yet they are Congolese who lived in Congo long before their land was partitioned by Leopold into Belgian Congo.”
๐ ๐ฒ๐๐๐ฎ๐ด๐ฒ ๐๐ผ ๐ฆ๐๐๐
“We are not at war with our Southern African brothers, and we urge them to take the time to understand the crisis in Congo, where brothers and sisters are divided by physical and facial features, tribe and some have no rights because they are said to be Rwandanโan issue stemming from the Berlin Conference.
SADC should take the time to understand the problem in Congo and then mediate without taking sides so that we can solve this colonial problem that is dividing Africa.”
๐๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐ ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐๐? ๐๐ผ๐ ๐ฑ๐ผ ๐๐ผ๐ ๐ณ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐น ๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ผ๐๐ ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฏ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐จ๐ฆ ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐ ๐น๐ถ๐๐?
“No, we are not terrorists; we are merely fighting for our rights. We are surprised that we are seen as terrorists when we are defending ourselves from groups like the FDLR, Wazalendo, and Mai-Mai, who have killed and displaced our peopleโwomen and childrenโbecause they say their facial features indicate that they are Tutsis from Rwanda.
The fact that we have been designated as terrorists for defending human rights, while the UN takes sides with the FDLRโwhich carried out the genocide in Rwandaโand other groups that discriminate and terrorize our communities, shows that the West does not believe in justice. We are left with no option but to defend our lands and rights on our own.”
He then asked me: “Do you know that, with the facial features you have as a Zimbabwean, you could be mistaken for a Tutsi and persecuted in some parts of the DRC?”
๐๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐บ๐ถ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ด๐ฒ๐ป๐ผ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฒ ๐ถ๐ป ๐๐ผ๐ป๐ด๐ผ?
“No! We do not commit human rights violations; thatโs why Goma and Bukavu are peaceful. We are fighting for the human rights of all Congolese people and trying to end the system of tribal segregation based on physical and facial features.”
๐๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐ ๐ฅ๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ป๐ ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ป๐ฑ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ผ ๐ฏ๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐ป๐ด๐ผ๐น๐ฒ๐๐ฒ?
“Many of us are former Congolese army officers. Some, like myself, are not even Kinyarwanda-speaking. We are Congolese people fighting for our civil, social, political, and economic rights in our own country.”
Written by Rutendo Matinyarare, Chairman of ZASM.
