Status of Bad Memories

Something inside my heart There is something, which is still inside my heart. It has been there for many years ago. My eyes have seen bad things. I saw brothers killing their own brothers and children crying everywhere. Humans were killed like animals without mercy. The tragedy was caused by the war that happened in DRC. I would ask my mother what caused the tragedy, but she could not reveal the whole secret about it. Tears were everywhere in the country. People hunted down as if they were wild animals. I saw this tragedy with my two eyes. I could stand in a hidden place to see what was happening. Women and children were also killed. My brothers and sisters became homeless. They are now wandering everywhere in the world. Killing a person was no longer a sin but a game to some tribes in Congo. There is something that always comes back in my mind. I see a flash of memory, the bodies of dead brothers and sisters on my left side as I was hiding myself in the bush. This is still a heavy injury on my heart that can never be forgotten. I have something that I can tell the world. Injustice has made me wake up and talk about what I saw with my eyes. I always take time to remember the entire incident. One day I tried to ask my mother why people were being killed without any cause, she told me that the world has been corrupted. She used to tell me that today there is no shame for killing an innocent person. As I was still young it was hard to recognize what was happening but when my mother explained, I tried to catch something from her. I continued to ask her a lot of questions to try to understand what was the main cause of the killings of my brothers and sisters, uncles, and grandparents. As she was kind to all people, one day she agreed to tell me the whole story of my tribe Banyamulenge. My mother told me that Congo Kinshasa had another name. They used to call it Zaire. It was a country ruled by MOBUTU SESESEKO KUKUNGBENDU WA ZABANGA. He was a serious dictator. He had never thought that the people he had been ruling were human beings. His leadership had been criticized by many people. The whole population was not happy. Some were able to leave the country and stay in exile. Meanwhile, Mobuto imprisoned any person who attempted to oppose him. As a great dictator of the time, killing was not a matter for him but ruling and having more gold. Banyamulenge were living with other Congolese in peace, they could share tears and happiness before Mobutu took the presidential power. All people in Congo were equal. The Banyamulenge were not bad people. Things had grown worse after the tragedy of genocide occurred in Rwanda. The tragedy in Rwanda was caused by ethnic conflict. In Rwanda lived two ethnic groups: Hutu and Tutsi. Hutu were the ones who had power. Most of the Tutsi lived in exile and those who were in the country could not have freedom of expression. Tutsi tried to request the former president of Rwanda HABYARIMANA Juvenal to repatriate Tutsi who were living in exile, but the president rejected the request. Later, he was killed by an unknown soldier from the crash of his airplane. The Hutu, who were well trained, started killing Tutsi who were living in the country. The absence of happiness took place in Rwanda. Tutsi were murdered and those who hid themselves in the bushes died of hunger and disease. Some days later, some Rwandans who used to live in exile led a battle against INTERAHAMWE. After being defeated, the Hutu went to stay in the different forests of Congo. Arriving in Congo, they did not kill all Congolese but they focused on killing the Banyamulenge because they could say that these people were brothers of Tutsi of Rwanda. They used their guns and machetes to kill Banyamulenge, as they did in their own country Rwanda. I remember, again when I was with my Mother, a group of two men killed our neighbor accusing him of being a spy for the Tutsi who took power in Rwanda. My mother kept on telling me that Congo was a corner of peace before the coming of INTERAHAMWE from Rwanda, but the government of Mobutu allowed them to enter into Congo with rifles so that they could be protected and keep on killing whoever they thought would challenge them. These people are killers who had murdered their own Tutsi brothers in Rwanda. Arriving in DRC, they started killing the Banyamulenge tribe. Even today when you try to visit the country you may find them hiding in different forests of Congo. The government has not tried to stop them nor have they brought these men to trial for their terrible actions both in the Congo and in their home country of Rwanda. INTERAHAMWE taught Babembe and other Congolese to kill Banyamulenge. I did not forget and I can never forget how they trained them to kill my brothers, sisters, uncles and aunts Can we say that killing Banyamulenge was a pride for other tribes of Congo? The answer is negative. The Congolese had got other conflicts based on tribes. I can mention the Mulele war. This was the war between Banyamulenge and Babembe. Even though they fought against one another, there were no killings and murdering like the one which happened after the arrival of INTERAHAMWE from Rwanda.