{"id":308787,"date":"2025-08-04T12:01:02","date_gmt":"2025-08-04T04:01:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=308787"},"modified":"2025-08-04T12:01:02","modified_gmt":"2025-08-04T04:01:02","slug":"dr-congo-pres-tshisekedi-wants-genocide-declared-in-conflict-hit-regions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=308787","title":{"rendered":"DR Congo: Pres Tshisekedi wants genocide declared in conflict-hit regions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.freemalaysiatoday.com\/_next\/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.freemalaysiatoday.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F07%2F2fe83884-m23-160723-afp_1024x683.webp&amp;w=1200&amp;q=75\" alt=\"dr congo_m23_080724_afp\" width=\"619\" height=\"413\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>KINSHASA, Aug 4 (NNN-AFRICANEWS) &#8212; The Democratic Republic of Congo observed Aug 2 as a national day to remember the millions of Congolese killed in the conflicts that have ravaged the country for over three decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The official ceremony took place in Kinshasa, at the Genocost Memorial, in the presence of numerous political, cultural, and diaspora figures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Among them were artists Innos B, Youssoupha, Werrason, and influencer Didi Stone. Organized by the Congolese government and the National Reparations Fund for Victims (FONAREV), the event aimed to highlight the scale of violence committed across the nation&#8217;s territory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis day is so important for the victims,\u201d said Emmanuella Zandi, Deputy Director-General of FONAREV.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt marks the recognition of atrocious acts, grave violations of international humanitarian law and human rights \u2014 acts that constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity, and even genocide.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The term Genocost refers to economically motivated massacres linked to the illegal exploitation of the DRC\u2019s natural resources, particularly in the eastern provinces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Several United Nations reports \u2014 including the 2010 Mapping Project \u2014 suggest that these crimes may qualify as acts of genocide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>During the event, documentaries were screened retracing the atrocities committed since the 1990s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Several survivors agreed to testify anonymously, with their faces covered for security reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Their stories recounted killings, systematic rape, and forced displacement \u2014 endured in near-total global silence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhen the war started in my village, there were many killings and atrocities. We had to flee to a neighboring village,\u201d said one survivor from Ituri.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In his speech, President F\u00e9lix Tshisekedi made a plea to the international community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIf the world still hesitates to recognize this tragedy for what it is \u2014 a creeping genocide \u2014 we will not wait for others to validate our pain. We are the first witnesses; we will be the first to pursue justice,\u201d Tshisekedi said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The ceremony ended with the lighting of the Genocost flame, a symbol of remembrance and resistance. &#8212; NNN-AFRICANEWS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>KINSHASA, Aug 4 (NNN-AFRICANEWS) &#8212; The Democratic Republic of Congo observed Aug 2 as a national day to remember the millions of Congolese killed in the conflicts that have ravaged the country for over three decades. The official ceremony took place in Kinshasa, at the Genocost Memorial, in the presence of numerous political, cultural, and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[213],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308787"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=308787"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308787\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":308788,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308787\/revisions\/308788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=308787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=308787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=308787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}