Banyamulenge Global Advocacy (BGA), an association of Banyamulenge of Congolese origin, naturalized Americans and living in the United States, claims that the announced withdrawal of M23/AFC fighters and Rwandan army units (RDF) from Uvira was nothing more than smoke and mirrors. BGA issued an alert denouncing “a unilateral withdrawal” decreed under U.S. diplomatic pressure but designed to turn Uvira into “a buffer zone that should be under the supervision of a neutral force.”
According to the organization, the gesture is a political maneuver dictated by Kigali after violating the Washington Agreements of December 4.
In its note dated December 18, BGA states that local sources describe “a comedy” rather than a genuine disengagement, adding that the fighters instead “went up toward the Uvira highlands toward Minembwe to reinforce their MRDP–Twirwaneho allies.”
No withdrawal—rather a strategic repositioning
BGA maintains that even in Uvira “the withdrawal was not total” and that certain M23/RDF elements “remained there,” now engaging with Mai-Mai militias that joined them after the fall of the town. The organization outlines a scenario in which these fighters seek “to carry out massacres there and blame them on the pro-government Mai-Mai militias.”
Fear of a narrative aimed at blaming the FARDC
The letter goes further: it argues that on the highlands once controlled by Burundian troops, pro-Rwanda forces could “carry out large-scale massacres against Banyamulenge civilians and blame them on the FARDC and Mai-Mai militias.” The presumed objective: to justify a renewed Rwandan intervention under humanitarian pretenses.
BGA openly accuses Kigali of turning genocide into an instrument of military interference, referring to “the ambition of the Rwandan regime to make the genocide of the Banyamulenge its battle horse allowing it to justify its war of occupation.”
Anticipated instrumentalization of massacres
The organization also points to the risk of a propaganda strategy aimed at reversing responsibility:
“They risk carrying out massacres against Banyamulenge civilians to justify the various claims that demanded the withdrawal of Burundian forces” by accusing them of collaborating with the FARDC, the Mai-Mai and the FDLR.
In this view, future crimes could become narrative weapons designed to delegitimize Kinshasa and Bujumbura.
International pressure demanded
Faced with this situation, BGA calls for urgent action. In its letter to the presidents of Burundi, the DRC and the United States, as well as to the UN Secretary-General, it demands the “redeployment of deterrent military forces” to counter this destabilization strategy, and strong diplomatic pressure on Kigali for “the total withdrawal of its forces from the DRC, which should occur simultaneously with that of the AFC-M23-Twirwaneho fighters.”
A now globalized issue
This letter, signed by Charles Nteze, is addressed to six heads of state or world leaders — a rare step for a community lobbying group. It places Uvira at the center of a geopolitical standoff where each potential massacre becomes a political message.
In Uvira, the battle is no longer confined to the field: it now plays out in international opinion — where the ultimate stake is the narrative of blood.
JEK
