Human Right Watch, this organization that loves to keep an eye on human rights stuff, dropped a report on Friday, May 23. They were talking about some serious “widespread abuse” going down in the South Kivu province by the wazalendo militiamen. Yeah, those guys who call themselves “Patriots” in Swahili. Apparently, they’ve been messing with the civilians, and it’s not cool. The province is partly under the control of the AFC/M23 rebels, who are getting a little help from their friends in Rwanda.
Kinshasa, the big boss in the capital, is being called out by Human Right Watch to stop supporting these militia dudes and to make them drop their weapons. The report even mentions how these wazalendo fighters, who sometimes team up with the Congolese army against the AFC/M23, have been beating, killing, and extorting money from civilians. And get this, sometimes they do it based on people’s ethnicity. Not really sure why they’re bringing that up, but okay.
Clémentine de Montjoye, a senior researcher at Human Rights Watch, is sounding the alarm bells. She’s worried that the Congolese army might be getting too cozy with these wazalendo troublemakers. She’s like, “Hey, if you keep backing these guys, you’re basically an accomplice to all the bad stuff they’re doing.” So, she’s calling on the Congolese authorities to cut ties with the wazalendo, disarm them, investigate all the abuses, and punish anyone who’s been naughty. Sounds like a plan, right?
