I don’t agree with the saying “all is fair in love and war.” Why? Because, in my view, without ethical boundaries, humans are no better than wild animals. That’s why, despite how horrific armed conflict is, there are rules that govern it. These rules are found in ancient texts like the Jewish Torah, the Christian Bible, the Muslim Koran, and the Hindu Mahabharata. In modern legal texts, many of these rules of war are codified in the Geneva Conventions and the Nuremberg Principles. While these rules already apply to the Great Lakes Region, I believe it would be wise to add one more: the ‘No Interahamwe / Akazu Allowed’ rule to govern how we relate to each other, especially during wartime. As nations that have signed the Genocide Convention, it goes without saying that every country in our region should do all it can to quell the threat of genocidal supremacism. Rwanda, in particular, knows what happens when this doesn’t occur—it leads to the deaths of millions. In 1994, tens of thousands of Interahamwe militias butchered over a million innocent men, women, and children simply because they were Tutsi. Despite what some deniers claim, this genocide wasn’t a sudden eruption. It was planned at the highest levels of the Habyarimana government. As British journalist Andrew Wallis noted in his book *Stepp’d in Blood*, the architects of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi weren’t only found in Juvénal Habyarimana’s government—they were part of his own family. According to Wallis, the masterminds of the genocide were part of the ‘Akazu,’ a small familial group led by the First Lady, Agathe Kanziga Habyarimana. This group, also known as ‘Network Zero’ (because their goal was a Rwanda with ‘zero’ Tutsis), thankfully failed to reach its goal in 1994. However, Network Zero and the ideology that powered it have not been eradicated. Its leader, Agathe Habyarimana, is still pulling strings from her comfortable home in Paris, and its adherents are gathering strength worldwide. In a just world, the Interahamwe killers and their Akazu godparents would be wandering the globe, fearful and ashamed. Unfortunately, we don’t live in a fair world. These forces of evil have found homes across Europe, North America and Africa. Most dangerously for Rwanda, they’ve found not just a home in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), but an operating base. Now called the FDLR, these genocidaires receive direct support from the Tshisekedi regime, obtaining arms, uniforms, and funds from his government. Understanding how dangerous the FDLR-Tshisekedi axis is for national security, Rwanda has taken steps to blunt the threat. Over the last few months, Angolan President João Lourenço has attempted to reduce tensions between Rwanda and the DRC. After many meetings between soldiers and intelligence officers from both countries, a plan was presented to the foreign ministers of Rwanda and the DRC in Luanda, Angola, over the weekend. The plan called for the disarmament and repatriation of the FDLR to Rwanda, as the first step toward normalizing diplomatic relations between the two nations. There’s no doubt that this harmonized plan was shared with the Congolese presidency and approved by Tshisekedi. But guess what? When it came time to sign the deal on Saturday, Congolese Foreign Minister Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner refused. According to journalists close to Kinshasa, she not only rejected the plan that would lead to the neutralization of the FDLR and the lifting of Rwanda’s defense measures, but she also refused direct dialogue with M23. To make matters worse, she then rejected any further meetings between defense and intelligence personnel from the two sides. So, not only did she reject the presented plan, but she also halted additional talks. To me, it sounds like Tshisekedi has chosen conflict over peace with Rwanda. Why do I conclude this? Well, not only has Tshisekedi continued to support FDLR, he’s also invited some of the most notorious members of the Akazu to live in the DRC. I’m referring to six infamous genocidaires who had been living in Niamey, Niger: Captain Innocent Sagahutu, Major François-Xavier Nzuwonemeye, Prosper Mugiraneza, Alphonse Nteziryayo, André Ntagerura, and Protais Zigiranyirazo (commonly known as Monsieur Z or Mr. Z). So, here are the facts: Tshisekedi has refused to distance himself from the FDLR, as evidenced by his foreign minister’s actions over the weekend and worse, he has welcomed into his country some of the very architects of Rwanda’s tragedy. What does this tell me? It tells me that there is no level of depravity to which Tshisekedi will not sink to harm Rwanda and its people. I hope the world is watching. The author is a socio-political commentator
