A group of primary school pupils from DR Congo were filmed while reciting anti-Rwanda sentiments.
The primary school pupils were performing a skit in French, in the presence of teachers and other pupils. The video circulated on social media since at least Thursday, June 1.
One pupil asks each of the actors who they are, and in turn they respond with the name of DR Congo’s neighbours. Then the kid asks the actor called DR Congo who her friends are and other kids respond with the names of Angola, Congo Brazzaville, Sudan, Zambia, Burundi and Tanzania.
Asked about the enemies, the actor called DR Congo says Rwanda and Uganda. The lead actor asks the actors playing the role of being Rwanda and Uganda why they attack the DR Congo, and they respond, in unison, that they “attack the DRC because she is too rich and we are very poor.”
The skit reflects exactly what Congolese Ministers have repeated ever since the resurgence of the M23 rebellion in November 2021.
The position of the Congolese government is that Rwanda supports the M23 rebels, allegations Kigali dismisses. Some politicians have also accused Uganda of siding with the rebels, even as the country has troops in eastern DR Congo, under different bilateral and regional arrangements.
Different people reacting to the video said it shows how hate is being taught in Congolese schools.
Ambassador Olivier Nduhungirehe, Rwanda’s envoy in the Netherlands, tweeted: “In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), hatred and xenophobia are quietly taught from primary school.”
“How can a ‘responsible’ DRC government tolerate such hate speech on innocent young people like in this school? And we are surprised by the infernal cycle of violence in this country!” said a commentator called Patrick Nyiridandi. He added that feeding hate to children was unacceptable.
The Congolese army has been accused of collaborating with the FDLR, a UN-sanctioned terrorist group responsible for cross-border attacks into Rwanda.
The FDLR was formed by the remnants of the perpetrators of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. When the genocidal regime in Rwanda was defeated, almost the entire genocidal machinery fled into eastern DR Congo where it was welcomed with open arms.
In eastern DR Congo, the FDLR has spread genocide ideology against Congolese Tutsi communities.
In May, a video showed FDLR elements shooting at cattle and killing more than 200 in eastern DR Congo.
Eastern DR Congo is home to more than 130 foreign and local armed groups, which are responsible for atrocities. The region has remained volatile for nearly three decades.
Multiple interventions, including the United Nations’ largest peacekeeping missions in the country (MONUSCO), have failed to end decades of violence in the country.
