US embassy cable - 04KINSHASA1576

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KINSHASA 001576 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/23/2014 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, SOCI, PHUM, CG 
SUBJECT: ANTI-TUTSI PREJUDICE RISES 
 
 
Classified By: Poloff Meghan Moore for Reasons 1.5 B and D 
 
1. (C) Summary: On August 16, moderate Banyamulenge community 
leader Enock Ruberangabo Sebineza told us that he was 
concerned about increased anti-Rwandan/ Banyamulenge 
sentiments in Kinshasa and eastern DRC. Many Congolese are 
again becoming increasingly hostile towards Rwanda, Ruberwa 
and the RCD/G, bringing back to the fore long-held 
perceptions of all Tutsis as Rwandan, and international 
community support of Rwandan interests over those of the 
Congo. On August 19, PPRD Secretary General Vital Kamerhe 
gave a press conference in Kinshasa PPRD condemning the 
Gatumba massacre, and offering the PPRD's condolences to the 
families of the victims. Most of his prepared remarks were 
relatively innocuous, but Kamerhe made a number of pointed 
jabs at Ruberwa and the RCD/G, Rwanda, and Burundi. End 
summary. 
 
Anti-Tutsi Sentiment Uptick 
---------------------------- 
 
2. (C) Over the past several weeks, Post has noticed an 
uptick in anti-Tutsi and anti-Rwanda rhetoric in eastern DRC 
and Kinshasa. On August 16, two moderate Congolese told two 
poloffs that Ruberwa, who they claimed was clearly Rwandan, 
had planned the Gatumba massacre. The same day, moderate 
Banyamulenge community leader Enock Ruberangabo Sebineza told 
polcouns and poloff that he was concerned about increased 
anti-Rwandan/ Banyamulenge sentiments in Kinshasa and eastern 
DRC and found a 'discourse of hate' during his recent trip to 
S. Kivu with the Truth and Reconciliation Committee. He said 
that Nkunda and Mutebusi's actions had poisoned average 
Congolese against most Tutsis who are now seen as Rwandan. 
Ruberangabo opined that any Rwandan intervention in the Congo 
could have disastrous consequences for the Banyamulenge and 
possibly other Congolese Rwandaphones. (Note: 'Rwandaphones' 
are Congolese residents and/or citizens (both Tutsi and Hutu) 
who speak Kinyarwanda. Banyamulenge refers to a specific 
group of Tutsis from S. Kivu. Most non-Rwandaphone Congolese, 
however, regularly lump all Tutsis together as 
Banyamulenge---without factoring in whether they are from N. 
or S. Kivu, and whether or not they are long-term residents 
or recent refugees. End note.) 
 
3. (C) Speaking of Kinshasa, pol assistant said that many 
people are tired of the international community's support for 
the RCD/G, Ruberwa, and the Banyamulenge, who are only one of 
several hundred minority groups in the Congo and are already 
disproportionately represented within the transitional 
government. He said people are sad that 160 people were 
massacred at Gatumba, but many are mad that the international 
community only seems to care about the death of 160 
Banyamulenge and does not care about the death of 3.5 million 
Congolese, mostly non-Tutsi. Poloff said that moderate 
participants at a National Democratic Institute conference on 
nationality were booed on August 19. 
 
PPRD Secretary General's Rant 
------------------------------ 
 
4. (SBU) On August 19, PPRD Secretary General Vital Kamerhe 
gave a press conference attended mostly by PPRD loyalists at 
the Kinshasa PPRD headquarters condemning the Gatumba 
massacre, and offering the PPRD's condolences to the families 
of the victims. He criticized locally organized periods of 
mourning for the victims, saying that only the transition 
government has the right to declare such a commemoration. 
(Note: This was a slam at Ruberwa who organized a 
commemoration and a period of mourning in Goma. End note.) 
Kamerhe also said that the PPRD had told its members to pray 
for two days to 'save the transition' and prevent future 
massacres. 
 
5. (SBU) Most of his prepared remarks were relatively 
innocuous, but Kamerhe made a number of pointed jabs at 
Ruberwa and the RCD/G, Rwanda, and Burundi. Kamerhe severely 
criticized Ruberwa for saying that Mai Mai were involved in 
the Gatumba massacre, and rhetorically asked if a vice 
president should blame his own country. He condemned press 
statements by certain politicians who repeated Rwandan and 
Burundian views that the Congolese are a genocidal people and 
said no one has the right to use this tragedy for political 
purposes or to justify another aggression against the DRC. 
Kamerhe said he knows there is a plan to transplant Rwanda 
and Burundi's ethnic conflict to the Congo, and the PPRD is 
convinced that a neighboring country has planned a third war 
which will be started by Congolese who will be used to kill 
other Congolese and facilitate the annexation of a part of 
the Congo. He invited churches, civil society, the government 
and political parties to refrain from adding fuel to the fire 
by accusing the innocent and peaceful people of the Congo and 
colluding with the nation's enemies for the sole purpose of 
accessing power. He opined that history will judge and the 
people will not forgive these acts of high treason. (Comment: 
The unnamed politician is clearly Ruberwa and the unnamed 
neighbor is clearly Rwanda. In addition, his invitation to 
refrain from adding fuel to the fire is a very pointed attack 
on Ruberwa and the RCD/G. End comment.) On August 20, pol 
assistant told polcouns that most Kinshasa residents agreed 
with Kamerhe's statement. 
 
Fueling the Fire 
---------------- 
 
6. (C) Despite the August 14 arrest of Pastor Ngoy, a 
notorious tele-evangelist who has incited hatred against 
Banyamulenge in the past, pro-government press in Kinshasa, 
notably RTNC radio and the newspaper L'Avenir have recently 
broadcast and published a number of inflammatory items. 
L'Avenir has run a series of vicious anti-Ruberwa and 
anti-Tutsi articles and editorials claiming that the term 
Congolese Tutsi is part of an ideology of victimization which 
causes ethnic hatred when the term is used, accusing Ruberwa 
of being Nkunda's accomplice, and suggesting that Ruberwa 
knew the Gatumba massacre would happen and made sure he was 
in eastern Congo when it happened. During an August 19 
evening broadcast, RTNC2 Radio claimed that there was a Tutsi 
conspiracy underway to create a Tutsi-led republic in the 
eastern Congo and encouraged listeners to express their anger 
against Congolese Tutsis. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
7. (C) Anti-Rwandan sentiment has long been very strong in 
the DRC. Recent events, including talk from Kigali and 
Bujumbura of the possibility of new cross-border unilateral 
military action, dredges up the latent hostility. Feelings 
are also widespread that much of the international community, 
and specifically the United States, are willing to overlook 
invasions and other provocation coming from Kigali out of 
guilt over the 1994 genocide. Opportunistic hard-line 
politicians such as Kamerhe or Pastor Ngoy find it relatively 
easy to inflame further these emotions. A number of 
Banyamulenge and other Congolese Tutsi leaders have always 
felt themselves particularly vulnerable during periods of 
heightened tension, caught at times between Rwandan and/or 
Burundian policies with which they often do not necessarily 
support and deep mistrust or hostility from other segments of 
the Congolese population. The trick is to keep public 
rhetoric toned down as much as possible from all quarters to 
avoid another spiral of fear and potential violence. 
MEECE