By Jean-Paul Ruhosha – Washington DC, USA – Sunday, December 8, 2019.
Activists and local populations in the Democratic Republic of Congo and elsewhere are urging the United Nations (UN) and the United States (US) to sanction a top Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) official, National Telegraph has learned.
They’re pressing for a ban on Omer Bulakali Mwanawabene, Member of Parliament for Bukavu in the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, lying at the extreme South-western edge of Lake Kivu, west of Cyangugu in Rwanda.
Omer Bulakali Mwanawabene who’s in Parliament under the banner of Vital Kamerhe’s Union for the Congolese Nation (UNC), hosted a meeting, November 30, 2019, in Baraka Fizzi Region, in the Eastern DRC province of South Kivu, calling all other tribes of Congo to join together to commit Genocide against the Banyamulenge ethnic group.
The attack was scheduled to take place from December 2 this year. According to eyewitnesses, he claims to have the support of the government in providing all the tools to make it happen. The people of Congo demand the government intervenes and protects its people. “We ask the government and international humanitarian organization to launch an investigation to prevent these ongoing systematic Killings.”
The most worrying thing is that Vital Kamerhe is a Congolese politician and the Chief of Staff of President Félix Tshisekedi and he’s also Chairman of the Union for the Congolese Nation (UNC) opposition party under whose banner, Omer Bulakali Mwanawabene who called openly for Genocide sits in the DRC Parliament.
Previously, Vital Kamerhe was the President of the National Assembly of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 2006 to 2009. After resigning from that office, he went into the opposition and founded the UNC.
Kamerhe was a candidate in the 2011 presidential election and made an alliance to support Félix Tshisekedi’s candidacy, leader of the Union for Democracy and Social Progress, during the 2018 presidential election.
A not-for-profit organisation, Citizen Campaign for Peace and Sustainable Development, (CCPDD), said it was deeply shocked by the words of the Union for the Congolese Nation (UNC) MP for Bukavu.
The fact that the MP stated he has the support of the Congolese Government in this macabre plan unworthy of the human race, raises a lot of concerns at various circles especially as President Félix Tshisekedi and his government has never come out to condemn it.
In a December 2, 2019 statement, the CCPDD condemned what it described as “such incendiary remarks from the MP”, adding it has serious consequences and demands the dismissal from function and the arrest of Omer. Governmental, UN bodies and rights groups have been urged to be on alert to what is happening in the Fizi, Mwenga and Uvira highlands and to investigate and sanction string fencers.
The CCPDD also praised the courage and bravery of SHIRIKA LA RAI Baraka’s Civil Society and others for their clear positions against violence and Human Rights violations and calls on the government to take tough measures against Omar Bulakali Mwanawabene.
In addition, The United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), condemned Omer’s call foe Genocide. Many political pundits are urging the International Community to act immediately, adding that this form of hate speech could bring upon DRC scenes from the Rwandan Genocide.
