Inside DR Congo information fabrication machine (EXCLUSIVE)
One of the two photos of the 15-year old TUYIZERE Eric, whom the Congolese intelligence apparatus gave to journalists
On a Tuesday afternoon of June 11, 2013, an unknown number appeared on the phone of Goma-based journalist Mafisango. When he picked up, a voice sounding authoritative summoned him to a known military fortress in Goma. Mafisango, who was used to getting such calls, knew something “big†was coming, the Rwanda News Agency (RNA) reports.
On arrival there, Mafisango found about 9 other journalists – representing several Goma based media. The journalists were taken to a room where they were given an audio recording and a photos of what looked like child of about 15 years. Since they had been used to getting such information from Congo’s intelligence, Mafisango and the others knew exactly what to do with the information.
Among the media represented was RAGA FM which covers almost the entire DRC and Radio KIVU-1, which relays mainly around large parts of the Kivus. The next morning on Wednesday at around 7am, MAGLOIRE PALUKU of Radio KIVU-1 released his segment of the news and by 10am, the information was spreading like wildfire on Facebook.
“Une fabrication de tres haut niveauâ€
The photos and audio recording were of a 15-year old boy who claimed to be TUYIZERE Eric, a Rwandan, who had been trained by the Rwandan army and sent to do espionage for M23 rebels. TUYIZERE said he was born in Bigogwe, North West Rwanda, and that is where he went to school. It is also the same place he was taken for alleged military training.
According to journalist Mafisango, the audio sounded a fabrication of the highest order (“une fabrication de tres haut niveauâ€). Doubtful about the information, Mafisango contacted Rwanda News Agency (RNA) on June 12 and repeated the information to us as provided by DRC intelligence. To allow Mafisango speak freely, RNA agreed to give him anonymity and therefore that is not his real name.
Fact checking TUYIZERE Eric
According to Mafisango, the journalists were shown the teenager TUYIZERE Eric, but did not speak to him. Instead, DRC security officers in the room said the boy had been arrested in Goma on June 10.
From the audio recording, the boy spoke very fluent French, and which he supposedly learnt at a primary school in Bigogwe. A problem emerges here. Bigogwe is a very remote area of Rwanda where a child will more likely finish primary school with a very low ability to speak French.
TUYIZERE says on the audio that he was born in October 1998 and began military training in 2002 – which is four years after! How can such a baby be recruited for military training, when it care barely speak? On the audio, the boy claims to have studied French, English and Swahili.
In Rwanda, for some years now, the mode of instruction is English, and French is taught simply as a subject. How a primary pupil from Bigogwe managed to perfect in the 3 languages is an issue Congo’s intelligence services should have thought about seriously.
So who is fabricating Congo’s propaganda?
When the selected Congolese journalists were summoned, none came from UN-funded Radio OKAPI – which is the biggest and most listened to in DRC. Perhaps the DRC security apparatus was aware OKAPI could not accept any such information. The story of TUYIZERE Eric did not appear in any foreign media, and on Facebook, many Congolese in their comments doubted its authenticity.
So who is doing such shoddy work for the Congolese government? It is also important to note that it is not the first time such information has come out. RNA has been putting together the information. The man responsible is by the names KALEV MUTOND, head of ANR (Agence Nationale de Renseignements). He spends most of his time in Goma with no publicly known office.
Last year, DRC went public with 11 men who were allegedly formerly from the Rwanda FDLR militia group and had been sent back to fight for M23. The men ended up at a MONUSCO base. It turned out later; none of the men had been to Rwanda. When confronted by Rwanda Defense Minister Gen James Kabarebe, KALEV MUTOND had no further proof.
Then another case came. A much prized UN Group of Experts (UNGoE) report released mid last year claimed that Rwandan soldier Capt Saddat Janvier had been captured commanding M23 rebels. This fabricated piece had been availed to former UNGoE head Steve Hege by KALEV MUTOND, and the item was inserted into the reported without asking any questions.
Capt Saddat Janvier, the man in question was discovered in August to have been a Congolese military officer with ID No 166964208920 from Regiment 807 based in Butembo.
General Kabarebe speaks
To understand how Congo’s ANR operates when collecting such fabricated information, we go back to a rare interview Rwanda’s Defense Minister General Kabarebe gave to French newspaper Le Soir in June. Gen Kabarebe revealed Col. Jean-Claude Yav, the commander of FARDC military intelligence, called “Détection Militaire des Activités Anti-Patrie (DEMIAP).
Both KALEV MUTOND and Col. Jean-Claude Yav are known to Gen Kabarebe. At a meeting in Goma between Rwandan and Congolese top military officials at the height of DRC crisis, Col. Jean-Claude Yav did the unthinkable for an officer of his level.
This is how General Kabarebe narrated: The truth is that while we were in Goma for a meeting, the head of the Congolese military intelligence came to me in my room, and spoke about the story of the captain. He said, “We made a big mistake by making these kinds of stories against Rwanda, it has already cost us so dear … this Captain Saddam belonged to the Congolese army, but it was Kalev who decided to make a fake Rwandan identity card and send fake testimony to the UN… Can you imagine that decisions are made on such a basis?â€
Human Rights Watch falls into the trap
The Congolese military is not alone in the quest for information in eastern DRC to prove Rwanda’s involvement. Human Rights Watch has been found to be paying Congolese witnesses for claims of rape and forced recruitment.
In December last year, damning details emerged about HRW. French newspaper Liberation reported that a HRW investigator named Lane had been offering financial compensation for “testimony against the M23”. In a country like DRC, where people go hungry, any amount can buy anything for HRW.
A detailed review of another report released today shows that Human Rights Watch will do anything to keep itself in the news. It writes: “Two former M23 officers told Human Rights Watch that some of the Rwandan fighters in their units told them they had served in Somalia or Darfur as part of the Rwandan army’s peacekeeping contingent.â€
First; Rwanda has never sent any troops to Somalia. And for the case of Darfur, even if Rwanda has soldiers there, it would be insane to suggest a trained military officer from Rwanda’s well-respected army does not remember whether they served in Darfur or Somalia.
The report also claims to have interviewed the 15-year-olds. It may not be surprising to suggest that one of the two 12-year-olds is actually TUYIZERE Eric who was paraded before Congolese journalists. Meanwhile, for journalist Mafisango, similar phone calls are always coming, because after each such meeting, the journalists are paid for the day’s work.
Good day,
I strongly believe that the crisis in the eastern Congo is a very delicate situation that requires some maturity and a high sense of honesty and good will from the officials of all the countries involved, especially those of the so-called Great Lakes Region. This crisis that seems to be more affecting the DRC today can later have some uncontrollable ramifications that will deal devastating and irreparable damages to neighboring countries. History has the tendency to repeat itself in such a way that sometimes small conflicts end up tearing apart an entire region. The political unrest in Rwanda, that later resulted in the 1994 genocide, is at the origin of the instability in the region today; so can be (become) any unfolding conflict if not dealt with adequately from the beginning.
Why am I emphasizing on honesty and good will? Because there is some inconsistency and inadequacy between what is being said and what is really being decided or done in secret, which reflects in the current situation. Honesty from all actors of the crisis is a key element to solving this problem which is not only the DRC’s.
Honesty and professionalism are also requested from Journalists who cover the events and comment on them, because even the shortest report, comment or publication that may be considered at first as without consequence can be a fuel to this already highly inflammable situation. Please, do remember how several infamous calls to violence from a radio station in Rwanda (la “Radio des mille collines”), amid the political uncertainties of that time, caused all hell to break loose on a country that could have had a very peaceful future.
You might be Rwandan, it is your patriotic duty to defend and promote your country’s public image; and I agree with you on that. But remember this- truthfulness and honesty must be your first main concerns in whatever you do as Journalists; this applies to Congolese as well. This text mentions some Journalist known by the alias of Mafisango who, according to your report, helped to uncover the “lie” orchestrated by the Congolese authorities; I would like to believe that the man truly exists, in such case he would the example of a good Journalist.
My first intention is not of teaching you what you are already doing and are supposed to be doing in accordance with some professional ethic, maybe it finally comes down to that; but it is not. My main intention is to question the motivations behind this report of yours. Is it to tell the world that Rwanda has not been the puppet master pulling the strings behind the curtains of this conflict? Do you want to look at people all around the world straight in the eyes and tell them that Rwanda is really being falsely accused? Do you want to tell me that Rwanda is just the innocent victim of some international or Congolese plot?
Rwanda has been arguing that the solution to this conflict is an internal, political and social dialog among the various Congolese political forces. Well, yes it is true that the internal, political situation inside the DRC is a mess and we all agree on that. But remember- the DRC is not the only country in that region to face those challenges of democracy, we cannot say confidently that Rwanda is a full scale democracy. How many times have we heard of unjustified or politically motivated arrests in Rwanda? Before the last elections, what haven’t we heard? The DRC will tell you the very same thing, they will tell you that the key to this situation is that some internal, political peace talks must take place between Rwandan politicians and they will be more right to say that about Rwanda: for, remember, the conflict in the region started in Rwanda, all that is happening started with the genocide in Rwanda and the social and political consequences and repercussions thereof.
Still on the same page, just to prove how Rwanda plays a very significantly malicious role in the region: haven’t we heard before that Rwanda would continue the war in the DRC with or without the pretext of a local rebellion? That was certainly before the Pretoria political agreements between the two countries were signed, but the question remains: does the Rwandan government walk the walk as much as they talk talk? I don’t think so.
Where does the M23 get its military training? That’s an important question that needs to be answered. Who provides them with military support and logistics?
I won’t answer that question without providing elements of proof to support my answer. Let’s first observe and analyze the leaders of the so called M23 or CNDP or whatever names that military group has been calling itself over the years. When Mr. Laurent Nkunda was fighting in the DRC, he was pretending to be a Congolese citizen whereas the Congolese authorities were contesting that, Rwanda was simply pretending not be concerned by the matter, arguing that it was a Congolese crisis between and among Congolese political forces. Still, during that time, it was known to everybody that Mr. Nkunda was freely travelling back and forth between Rwanda and the Congolese occupied territory under his movement’s administration, and Rwanda was not arresting him back then. But few days after he and his troops had suffered some major lost on the battlefield, there comes Rwanda pretending to have had him arrested for some unknown reason. What is he accused of? Why is he getting “asylum” from Rwanda, asylum which he didn’t, by the way, seek? He pretends now to be a Rwandan subject, so did (or still does) Mr. Mutebutsi and many others.
Who can understand the game that Rwanda is playing?
I like Ms. Mushikiwabo’s rhetoric and eloquence; honestly, I hold her in high esteem and regard. Does it matter though, when all that rhetoric and charming language adds up to a big lie, a big deceitful venture? Mr. Charles Murigande was doing the same thing, when he was in the same office: promising and even swearing that Rwanda was not involved in the chaotic situation in the eastern DRC. But we all know that it is not true.
It takes some courage to stand up and expose the evil for what it is. It doesn’t matter from which side it comes, it doesn’t matter who is behind it… The most important thing is to expose it. Rwanda has been backing rebellions, military groups and small armies against its neighbor, the DRC; that is wrong, that goes against international laws and treaties. THAT IS SIMPLY WRONG! And Rwanda should suffer the blame, the shame and severe sanctions from the international community. I still wonder why the UN are still at the point of simply verbally condemning it. There should be some coercive, drastic measures against Rwanda. This is unacceptable, and it has been going too long. We, as people from all over the world who are monitoring this crisis with a watchful, close eye, we cannot keep our arms folded and our mouths shut.
A very famous American writer(Edward Abbey) wrote: “A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government”… I am truly sure that Rwandan people do not want this; so it is our duty, yours and everybody’s, to make sure that peace is created, kept and sustained in the region, and that tranquility prevails over the will of some reckless politicians sitting in power.
The case that you are pointing out in this report might be a true case of lie by the Congolese Intelligence Services; but how many real cases of death, mutilation, rape and other unspeakable crimes will have to take place before you raise the voice and tell your government, the Rwandan government, that enough is enough!
Peace in the DRC will also mean peace for Rwanda and other countries. You all need that, the world needs that. You owe that to the people of the DRC who welcomed so many among you with widely open arms when your country turned into hell.
Thanks!