{"id":56670,"date":"2025-12-28T15:30:34","date_gmt":"2025-12-28T15:30:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/drc-anti-tutsi-rhetoric-escalates-with-cockroaches-and-virus-slurs\/"},"modified":"2025-12-31T13:02:26","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T13:02:26","slug":"drc-anti-tutsi-rhetoric-escalates-with-cockroaches-and-virus-slurs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/drc-anti-tutsi-rhetoric-escalates-with-cockroaches-and-virus-slurs\/","title":{"rendered":"DRC anti-Tutsi rhetoric escalates with &#8216;cockroaches&#8217; and &#8216;virus&#8217; slurs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On December 22, 2025, DRC President F\u00e9lix Tshisekedi Tshilombo hosted two Congolese expatriates from the United States, Jean-Claude Mubenga and Kalonji Kabamba wa Mulumba.<\/p>\n<p>The DRC government claims that Tshisekedi, Mubenga, and Kalonji discussed Congolese unity and the country&#8217;s sovereignty and independence. <\/p>\n<p>However, individuals familiar with the actions of these men on social media argue that the meeting was intended to further support their controversial views.<\/p>\n<p>The following day, Mubenga posted inflammatory comments online, referring to Tutsis as &#8220;inyenzi&#8221; (cockroaches) and asserting that the DRC&#8217;s land does not belong to them. <\/p>\n<p>He described them as a virus that must be eradicated before it spreads, likening them to cockroaches that should be killed immediately to prevent multiplication. <\/p>\n<p>Mubenga, known for his repeated expressions of animosity toward the Tutsi community, urged Congolese citizens to target anyone speaking Kinyarwanda for elimination and praised Wazalendo militias for doing so. <\/p>\n<p>He further encouraged youth to join efforts to eradicate the group entirely.This is not the first instance of apparent government endorsement. <\/p>\n<p>In late September 2025, Government Spokesperson Patrick Muyaya met Mubenga and Kalonji in New York during a YouTube-broadcast discussion. <\/p>\n<p>Muyaya expressed appreciation for Congolese individuals engaged in what he called a &#8220;media war&#8221; for patriotism, specifically commending Mubenga for his campaigning efforts.Similar patterns extend to other figures aligned with the administration. <\/p>\n<p>Deputy Justin Bitakwira, a longtime advocate for the extermination of all Tutsis and a member of the ruling Union Sacr\u00e9e alliance, oversees Wazalendo activities in South Kivu. <\/p>\n<p>Despite EU sanctions imposed on him in December 2022 for inciting violence against the Banyamulenge (Congolese Tutsis), the DRC government has taken no action against him.<\/p>\n<p>More recently, on the evening of December 27, 2025, state broadcaster RTNC featured Major General Sylvain Ekenge, spokesperson for the DRC armed forces, in a segment ostensibly updating viewers on security in eastern DRC, particularly South Kivu amid ongoing conflict.<\/p>\n<p>While the primary focus was military developments, much of the discussion veered into attacks on Rwandans and Kinyarwanda-speaking Congolese, especially Tutsis, whom Ekenge accused of deception. <\/p>\n<p>He warned viewers to exercise caution in marrying Tutsi women, alleging that traditional leaders facilitate such unions only for relatives from the woman&#8217;s family, such as cousins or uncles, to later intervene. <\/p>\n<p>Ekenge claimed these relatives father children with the wife, attributing the offspring to supposed genetic dominance within the Tutsi community, and labeled the practice a scam infiltrating marriages.<\/p>\n<p>The DRC government maintains that no ethnic group is targeted and dismisses claims of persecution against Congolese Tutsis as fabrications. <\/p>\n<p>Yet, statements from officials like General Ekenge and the associations with figures such as Mubenga and Bitakwira lend credence to widespread concerns about institutionalized hostility toward the Tutsi community.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"spip-document spip-document-99793\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/jpg\/eken-2-aadb0.jpg\" alt=\"Gen Ekenge warned the public to exercise caution in marrying Tutsi women, \" \/><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"spip-document spip-document-99795\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/jpg\/tshione-9e85f.jpg\" alt=\"On December 22, 2025, DRC President F\u00e9lix Tshisekedi Tshilombo hosted two Congolese expatriates from the United States, Jean-Claude Mubenga and Kalonji Kabamba wa Mulumba.\" \/><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"spip-document spip-document-99794\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/jpg\/bitakwira_tsh-955d6.jpg\" alt=\"Tshisekedi and his wife recently hosted Bitakwira\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has once again openly expressed its animosity towards the Tutsi community, condemning them as a bad influence and cautioning against their presence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":2000099796,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[75],"byline":[170],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-56670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-homenews","byline-igihe"],"bylines":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"contributors":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"featured_image":{"id":2000099796,"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/tshione-9e85f.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":0,"height":0,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/tshione-9e85f.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/tshione-9e85f.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/tshione-9e85f.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/tshione-9e85f.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/tshione-9e85f.jpg","width":0,"height":0}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56670"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56670\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000099796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56670"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=56670"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=56670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}