Goma has celebrated rumours of Kagame’s death. You might have missed my viewpoint on this specific incident and wonder if I did not notice it. As we were ending 2013 and getting prepared to face 2014 challenges, I thought to morally side with those who couldn’t celebrate the new year due to their socio-economic status.
In the African Great Lakes region, a series of celebrations of death has taken cross-border forms: from the DRC to neighboring Rwanda and Johannesburg. On 30/12/2013, there were widespread attacks and the ongoing armed confrontation in Katanga and Beni.
Meanwhile, in Goma and Bukavu, crowds celebrated the death that never happened, and in Rwanda, they were celebrating the death of their opponent, who was strangled in South Africa. Surprisingly, even people who had been closer friends celebrated the demise of their former friends. My guess is that Congolese and Rwandan military officers might have celebrated the death of Mamadou Ndala while in Kigali, specifically, they openly celebrated the assassination of Col Karegeya.
Rumors of Kagame’s Death
In Goma and Bukavu, Congolese youth, motorcyclists invaded the streets to celebrate the death of the Rwandan president, Paul Kagame. Around 10 am (Goma time), thousands marched with a coffin to express their joy and happiness at the death of Kagame.
Crowds in Goma had their own way to celebrate, as did public figures in Rwanda, something you can assess by watching their speeches. The difference between these two moves is that public figures can’t celebrate rumors, while the crowds can.
At the same time, one can guess that public figures represented or stood for a crowd behind them, compared to crowds in Eastern DRC who stood for themselves. That is, celebrations on both sides were likely similar if analyzed in this way.
Thus, celebrating a “betrayal’s deaths” in the great lakes is not a question of blaming to Congolese crowds in Goma, Beni, and Bukavu; it is rather a question to be discussed and researched for determining such spectacular moves within an African culture.
Mamadou Ndala
Why would colleagues celebrate the death of a military officer? Mamadou was a brave commander who rose from a dysfunctional Congolese army. He might have been a victim of his bravery. Besides his eagerness to defeat the rebel group, Col Mamadou never felt shy to express himself in Swahili within a “Lingala” dominated army structure. His attitude and declaration were impressive. The complexity of the surrounding environment of his death may reveal that it will take longer to know the truth.
Anyone who is familiar with the eastern DRC region and the DRC in general seems to be aware of such targeted killings of army officers in unclear circumstances. Many of them have fallen due to internal “competition”or settling accounts among military officers, or because of killing certain groups due to their community affiliation. Some of these killings had not been investigated. Consequently, Mamadou’s case isn’t an isolated case and shows that there is a need to undertake the army reform.
Why did it take longer to express my opinion?
As we celebrated the end of 2013, I remember how many people, families, and individuals in my country, the DRC, are so deprived and vulnerable to the extent of not being able to celebrate Christmas and the New Year. This is because of poverty and its related consequences, a manmade issue in the DRC. Though the DRC is potentially rich, its population is still starving and striving to access basic needs, while privileged Congolese can live as they wish. Despite how they constitute a small number in terms of numbers as compared to the large majority, these privileged individuals, leaders …, can decide to even steal our resources and hide them in safe have economies. The DRC occupies the 10th world position of having leaders who embezzle its resources and hide them because of selfishness.
As some parts of the South Kivu or North Kivu are likely stable, I guess that we will finally enjoy and wish for a better future. We can only achieve this if we tackle the root causes of the conflicts, mostly the unequal distribution and redistribution of national resources.
What should be the focus?
Here are unanswered questions: are those celebrated deaths across borders well-informed about their real problems? Is it possible that the death of someone considered as a competitor or a “betrayal” gives straightforward and blueprint solutions to countries’ problems? What if the causes of the problems in the region and specific country were wrongly assessed, and we are probably part of them in one way or another?
When crowds celebrated, my impression was to blame them as they invaded streets. I believed we should behave as humans and Africans. In the case of a death, a normal attitude is to share the sorrow with the aggrieved. However, if public figures can celebrate a death, crowds are likely to double this.
The danger is that some will finally celebrate their own death due to how they narrowly assessed the causes of their problems. Some celebrated because they were entrapped so that it would unravel their hateful sentiments. It is time to rethink and understand all these phenomena and manipulations in the African Great Lakes region.
Delphin R. NTANYOMA
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Delphino12
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