Congolese refugees in Rwanda protest over killings in eastern DRC

Fighting erupted in DRC’s North Kivu province in March 2022, where government troops are battling the M23 rebels, leading to hundreds of deaths reported.

Last week, authorities in DRC said 272 civilians were killed in a massacre attributed to M23 rebels in Kishishe, in North Kivu.

But the rebels denied responsibility for the killing, claiming it was committed by militia groups working alongside government troops.

Brandishing placards with several messages, the refugees living at Kigeme camp in Rwanda’s Nyamagabe district, shouted slogans criticizing the international community and the DRC government.

 “We denounce the silence and hypocrisy of the international community about the ongoing genocide against Tutsi in DRC,” one placard read.

Several other refugees appealed to the international community to protect their relatives in North Kivu province and other parts of DRC, whom they said are “targeted on account of their ethnic Tutsi origin.”

Faustin Kalisa, one of the protesters, said he fled DRC after facing threats on account of his Tutsi ethnic identity.

“We are here to criticize the ongoing genocide,” he said.

“We also want an end to this endless refugee life. Since childhood I was told that we were unwanted in our country because we are Tutsis and we had to flee,” he said.

The Kinyarwanda speaking refugees who have lived in Rwanda for more than two decades called on the United Nations to act on the atrocities committed by armed groups.

The fighting has displaced at least 1.5 million people in 2022 in the eastern region, more than half of them children, according to UNICEF data released on Dec.5.