The notorious M23 group caused ruin in the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, as it seized the two largest cities in the region in a fatal uprising that forced hundreds of thousands to flee their homes.

Essential in their campaign is to emphasize that the ethnic totsi who lives in the Congo is persecuted.

The research in the state of Tutsi in Dr Congo – and how it is linked to the M23 uprising – is a complex and sensitive issue that goes to the heart of those who are considered Congolese.

For beginners, many international authorities argue that in their alleged battle against discrimination, the rebels committed unjustified atrocities. the The United Nations and the United States, for example, have imposed M23 leaders Regarding war crimes allegations, such as sexual violence and killing civilians.

Second, some regional analysts say that instead of seeking to defend Tursis, the M23 – and Rwanda, which supports the group of rebels – seeks primarily to exploit the vast metal wealth of Dr. Al Sharq.

It is also worth noting that it is believed that there are hundreds of thousands of Tutsi in Dr Congo – there is no official estimate – and many do not support the procedures that are implemented in their name.

However, experts and organizations such as the United Nations documented contracts of discrimination against the Congolese Tutsi and Banyamulenge – a sub -group of TURTSI concentrated in South Kivu Province.

This ranges from ethnic killings, to discrimination in the workplace, to hatred by politicians.

In the root of this discrimination, there is a link with the neighboring Rwanda, which was led by Tutsi since 1994. During the late nineties and early first decade of the twentieth century, many Congolese Tutsion played a major role in the North -backed violence against governments and then managed by Dr. Congo.

The perception that the Congolese tutsi is “foreign” can have fatal consequences.

“People of various generations of his family were killed because of their identities in Banamolk and Tutsi.

He said that in the past six years, his great and practical son was killed by Congolese soldiers and local militia fighters. The Congolese Armed Forces did not respond to the BBC’s request to comment on this claim.

Mr. Mouazi said that his family lived in the current Dr. Congo for several centuries and that he “wishes the world to know that” his community suffers from what he called “silent genocide.”

Muragwa Cheez Bienvenue, an activist Banyamullenge, said it was targeted by airport employees in Boukavo.

“I stopped – tell me that I look like [Rwandan President] “He paid me to pay about $ 150 (120 pounds) to save myself from prison,” he told the BBC, adding that he supports the M23 case.

Before colonialism, part of the region now was Dr. Kongo was subject to Rwandan property, which is Tutsi. The fight against expansionary wars for a long time, as the Kingdom extended to more and more East Africa.

Tutsi lived, Hotos and other ethnic groups in the Rwandan Kingdom and did so since at least the nineteenth century. But when the colonial forces put forward arbitrary limits in Africa, the kingdom was divided between the current Congo and Rwanda.

After that, the other tutsi migrated to the Dr Congo in the waves. In the middle of the twentieth century, the Belgian colonists brought workers from the current Rwanda to the employees, while others came alone in search of a better life.

Meanwhile, the refugees at Tutsi began reaching Dr. Congo, and they fled from the waves of ethnic violence in Rwanda and Burundi. Both countries have always controlled the Tutsi minorities, which led to tensions with the majority of Huto.

Many of them were believed to have arrived in 1994 during the Rwandan genocide, where about 800,000 people were slaughtered, most of them from Tutsi. But when the Total -led government seized power and finished the massacres, some returned, especially after some of those responsible for genocide fled to Dr. Congo.

With the growth of the Dr Congo’s Turtsi and Banyamulenge societies, the Congolese authorities wrote alternately and undermined them, “Jason K. Sterens, an analyst of the Congo, in his book The War whose name does not say.

In the early 1970s, then President Moboto Sis Siko was granted to anyone who originated from Rwanda or Burundi, provided that they were present on Congolese lands before 1960.

However, in 1981, Parliament returned to these rights and many Tutsi, Banyamulenge and people from other minority groups “derived from their nationality and left insecure”, a delay male.

In the nineties, Turtersis and Banyamulnge are subject to a multiple course in Dr Con Cong. For example, a United Nations report says that the Congolese army helped armed groups kill nearly 300 Banamulling civilians in the city of Parka in 1996.

It also states that “many” Tutsi and Banyamulnge have lost their functions and suffered from discrimination and threats.

Today, the constitution considers the Tutsi and Banyamulnge groups that Congolese and some of these societies occupy military positions and senior governance. In fact, LT-under Pacifique Masunzu, the man who leads the battle against M23 as a leader of a major region in the eastern Congo, is from Banyamulnge.

But there is still important evidence of discrimination. In 2024, United Nations experts said that in southern Kivu, Banyamulenge is viewed as harmful For their neighboring societies. Experts said that this speech incites “hatred, discrimination, hostility and violence.”

There were also recent reports on the Tutsi and Banyamulnge soldiers in the Congolese army who are being killed. according to Human Rights WatchOne of the mobs killed a military officer, Banamuling, in 2023, “in a clear state of ethnic hatred.”

The politicians – the past and the present – also prompted discriminatory feelings.

Congo experts, Dr. like Mr. Sterez, say that anti -Kotisi feelings rise during M23 rebellions.

BBC told that he saw “very terrifying” posts on social media over the past few weeks – “a phenomenon of people in other parts of the country expressing doubts about a specific person, and often a army officer or police officers … the road To the way it seems, and he claimed that some people seem to be Rwandan. “

Although some Congolese tutsi may support the current M23 uprising, Mr. Stearns says, “Many of them feel uncomfortable with the consequences that this will happen to them as a society, because again, this means that they will be photographed as a betrayal.”

The Congolese government has gone somewhat to recognize discrimination against Tutsi. For example, earlier this year, President Felix Chesikdi said that he had “had enough banner control speech and claimed that such comments gave Rwanda an excuse to invade Dr. Kongo.

However, the authorities have also reduced the allegations of persecution on a large scale. “We have 450 hat and there is a conflict between each other in many parts of the country … the government’s position against any kind of discrimination or hate speech against every society,” government spokesman Patrick Moyaya told the BBC.

However, Mr. Bienvenue on the other hand told that the BBC “believed” his ethnic group had been discriminated, while giving an example that his sister had been sacked once after she told that she “looked like a Rwandi spy.”

This is although his family lives in the same area for several centuries.

“Banyamulenge has been here since it was the Congo Congo!” He said, angry.

Additional reports by Emery Macomino in Kinshasa