{"id":3389,"date":"2026-08-04T12:17:48","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T10:17:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rwandatribune.rw\/en\/?p=3389"},"modified":"2026-08-04T12:17:51","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T10:17:51","slug":"nduhungirehe-criticizes-drcs-genocost-campaign-you-cannot-speak-about-genocide-while-working-with-those-who-committed-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rwandatribune.rw\/en\/2026\/08\/04\/nduhungirehe-criticizes-drcs-genocost-campaign-you-cannot-speak-about-genocide-while-working-with-those-who-committed-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Nduhungirehe Criticizes DRC\u2019s \u201cGenocost\u201d Campaign: \u201cYou Cannot Speak About Genocide While Working With Those Who Committed It\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The commemoration of August 2 continues to spark controversy in the Great Lakes region after the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) government maintained its annual remembrance of what it calls \u201cGenocost,\u201d describing it as the mass killing of Congolese people allegedly linked to the exploitation and plundering of the country\u2019s natural resources.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The term \u201cGenocost\u201d was officially incorporated into DRC law on December 26, 2022, and was designated as a day to remember Congolese people whom authorities say were killed since 1996.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2023, President F\u00e9lix Tshisekedi led the first official commemoration ceremony, and in 2025 he inaugurated a \u201cGenocost\u201d memorial site in Kinshasa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the fourth commemoration ceremony held on August 2, 2026, at the Kinshasa memorial site, President Tshisekedi again accused Rwanda and the AFC\/M23 coalition of being responsible for killings he said had been committed against Congolese people over the past decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rwanda Rejects DRC\u2019s \u201cGenocost\u201d Narrative<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following Tshisekedi\u2019s remarks, Rwanda\u2019s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Olivier Nduhungirehe, criticized the DRC\u2019s \u201cGenocost\u201d campaign, saying Kinshasa was presenting itself as a victim while ignoring what he described as its own history of targeting Congolese Tutsi communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking in an interview with Agasaro Kaburanga, Nduhungirehe said that August 2, 1998 \u2014 the date linked by DRC authorities to the \u201cGenocost\u201d commemoration \u2014 was instead a day marked by attacks against Tutsi communities in Congo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat Congo is doing is deliberate. On August 2, 1998, the day they describe as Genocost remembrance day, terrible events took place, especially in Kinshasa, where Tutsis were openly targeted,\u201d Nduhungirehe said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He claimed that many Tutsis were pursued, abused and killed, adding that there are photographs and videos documenting those incidents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dispute Over Statements by Abdoulaye Yerodia<\/strong>
Nduhungirehe also referred to statements made by Abdoulaye Yerodia Ndombasi, who served as DRC Foreign Minister in 1998, accusing him of using language targeting Tutsi communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said Ndombasi had faced accusations by Belgian justice authorities over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity, but that the DRC never prosecuted him domestically.
Ndombasi died on February 19, 2019, after President F\u00e9lix Tshisekedi granted him a state funeral.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DRC Takes Case to the ICJ<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On June 26, 2026, the DRC government filed a case against Rwanda at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), accusing it of genocide-related crimes allegedly committed from 1996 to the present.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The move is part of Kinshasa\u2019s efforts to gain international recognition for what it calls \u201cGenocost\u201d and to accuse Rwanda of involvement in Congo\u2019s security crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Debate Over FDLR<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n


Nduhungirehe further argued that the DRC should not promote the \u201cGenocost\u201d narrative while continuing cooperation with the FDLR, a group Rwanda accuses of having participated in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe FDLR is a group that committed genocide in Rwanda. You cannot claim to mourn genocide while working with a group that committed it,\u201d Nduhungirehe said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So far, no country has officially announced support for the DRC\u2019s international campaign to promote \u201cGenocost,\u201d and no government has publicly joined the initiative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rwandatribune.rw<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The commemoration of August 2 continues to spark controversy in the Great Lakes region after the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) government maintained its annual remembrance of what it calls \u201cGenocost,\u201d describing it as the mass killing of Congolese people allegedly linked to the exploitation and plundering of the country\u2019s natural resources. The term \u201cGenocost\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3390,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"content-type":"","footnotes":"","_ppma_block_editor_authors":""},"categories":[158,160],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[171],"class_list":["post-3389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-politics"],"authors":[{"term_id":171,"user_id":2,"is_guest":0,"slug":"ally","display_name":"Mwizerwa Ally","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2460f560d05f718023abc7850afea1ed6f16c8c8b28cb4cf4fd3767b860b24e8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","author_category":"","first_name":"Mwizerwa","last_name":"Ally","user_url":"https:\/\/rwandatribune.rw\/en\/","job_title":"","description":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rwandatribune.rw\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rwandatribune.rw\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rwandatribune.rw\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rwandatribune.rw\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rwandatribune.rw\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3389"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rwandatribune.rw\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3389\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rwandatribune.rw\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rwandatribune.rw\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rwandatribune.rw\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rwandatribune.rw\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3389"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rwandatribune.rw\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=3389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}