For three years, the war in Ukraine has been experienced as an immediate threat, a vital challenge for Europe. For a year and a half, the Gaza tragedy has posed an existential dilemma. Morning and evening, the victims bleed on our doormat. They prohibit indifference. But the war of the great lakes hardly interests. It has lasted for thirty years. Too long, too far, too obscure. We do not distinguish at first glance the good and the bad guys. Sometimes they reverse roles. They discourage media indignation.
And yet! This war in eastern Congo left six million dead … low estimate. The largest human massacre of the 21st century. Several wars embedded in each other since the Rwandan genocide of 1994. Always the same victims: civilians who succumb to the disease, famine, ethnic massacres in a region whose all the infrastructures have been ravaged. Deliberately ravaged.
At one point, the armies of nine neighboring countries were involved on the ground, with a hundred armed groups. Not to mention the contingents under blue helmet which have been taking turns for a quarter of a century within Monusco. The First African World War!
But it is as if it took place on the planet Mars or in a distant past. Diplomats go there little, journalists even less, great consciences don’t care. Little echo in the West, no smell, no horror. Tomorrow we will wonder why. With remorse, account time will sound. And the West will be guilty, as always.
The UN trapped
This week, Goma, the capital of Kivu province, fell into the hands of the M23, the main armed group supported and supervised 3 to 4,000 Rwandan soldiers. The city has a million inhabitants, double with the displaced who camp around. They fled the progress of the rebels. In vain: the enemy joined them in Goma, the end of the road. Congolese regular army soldiers fell back, local militiamen volatilized. The city was delivered to looting. Hospitals are overwhelmed by the influx of the injured. Humanitarians call for help. The peacekeepers, which were to bend baggage in late 2024 and which the resumption of fighting in November trapped, are entrenched in their cantonments. It has been a quarter of a century that the UN despair of the situation it is unable to straighten. However, she tried. A dozen Monusco soldiers from Uruguay and the South Africans engaged in Samidrc, the regional interposition force, were still killed in battle last week. The UN, Washington, London, Paris claim the withdrawal of the Rwandan army. In vain.
This war in eastern Congo left six million people dead … low estimate
No whites to incriminate
It is difficult to admit that yesterday’s victim is today’s executioner. Rwanda cheerfully denies its involvement. Its responsibility is however established. It is documented: when a TB2 drone shoots a group of Congolese militiamen, we know that the operator is Rwandan. Kigali is not content to train, arm and supervise the rebels of the M23. He also plunders the mines of his neighbor. Rwanda which does not draw a gram from Coltan from its basement is the main exporter. Ditto with cobalt and copper. Without Coltan, the electronic capacitors of our mobile phones, the surface waves filters of our computers and the children’s playstations could not work.
Like it or not, the conflict concerns us. But there is no poutine to hate, no whites to incriminate. This is why Goma is erased.
