The situation in Minembwe is alarming and requires urgent intervention. The community, already reeling from years of violence and neglect, is now facing arbitrary arrests orchestrated by the very people who are supposed to ensure their security: the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC). On November 1, 2024, soldiers from the 21st Brigade deployed in the area arrested, without legitimate reason, Mutware, Manutsi’s son, as well as another young man identified only by his father’s name, Sosthène, who had himself been detained for several years in Kinshasa. These men were abducted in the middle of the night, from Sosthène’s motel in the center of Minembwe, without evidence or clear justification, other than a vague accusation of moral support for their community.
The inhabitants of the Itombwe Highlands have no choice but to defend themselves, as the forces that were supposed to protect them have become their oppressors. For a long time, the population of Minembwe has lived under the constant threat of attacks by Mai-Mai militias, often supported by elements of the FARDC. Faced with this situation, the community is forced into self-defense, a response dictated not by choice, but by survival.
The problem has now gone beyond simple persecution: arrests have become a real business. FARDC members take advantage of each detention to demand exorbitant ransoms, extorting money from the detainees’ families. In the absence of payment, prisoners are transferred to distant prisons in Kinshasa, where they risk dying in the deplorable conditions of Makala prisons or the cells of the Military Detection of Anti-Patriotic Activities ( DEMIAP), without a fair trial. The recent story of Zakari, detained on a ridiculous pretext—the alleged ingestion of a drone by his cows—illustrates this tragedy. Subjected to torture, locked in a windowless container, Zakari was only released after paying a sum of $500, an amount that is already difficult to raise in this region ravaged by poverty.
This practice has become a sadly common pattern: whenever the 21st Brigade soldiers want to obtain money for their own benefit, they carry out new arrests, demanding exorbitant amounts in exchange for the freedom of those arrested. In such a context, where families have to beg, borrow and run everywhere to raise the necessary funds, this extortion paralyzes and ruins already vulnerable families.
The Congolese authorities, for their part, continue to turn a blind eye to these abuses, which are perpetuated with disconcerting indifference. This deafening silence in the face of the suffering of Minembwe must end. We call on the national and international community to denounce these inhuman practices and to exert pressure for an end to the abuses and for justice to finally be done. The people of Minembwe have the right to peace, security and dignity, and these rights must be respected unconditionally.
November 3, 2024
Paul Kabudogo Rugaba
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