Congolese elected member of parliament Justin Bitakwira, known for his hate speech against Tutsi, evidenced in the UN Group of Experts report S/2023/990, recorded with his smartphone on July 24, a communiqué on a Banyamulenge “cleansing pact”, known as the “non-aggression pact” between the MAI-MAI Babembe and Bafuliru armed groups.
A meeting which gathered the main MAI-MAI chiefs from the Fizi, Mwenga and Uvira territories was held in Baraka, in the Fizi territory. Facilitated by Bitakwira, this meeting referred to a joint plan for massive, coordinated attacks, against what they perceive as the “common enemy”, the Banyamulenge, survivors of a series of attacks launched since 2017. The representative of the DRC’s Reserve Armée de la Défense, was there to offer material support to the MAI-MAI coalesced groups.
These calls for hate violence by Bitakwira represent a serious danger to the Banyamulenge community in the High and Mid Plateaux of Fizi, Mwenga and Uvira.
Because the military provide resources to these Wazalendo, elements of untrained, unsupervised and uncontrolled militias, the town of Baraka, which has so far been spared from the violence associated with the proliferation of weapons, is at risk of falling into an uncontrollable spiral of insecurity comparable to that seen in Goma.