Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Amb. Olivier Nduhungirehe, said that 28 years ago, Congolese Tutsis began enduring extreme atrocities, following hate speech delivered by DRC’s then Foreign Minister.
Minister Nduhungirehe made the remarks on 2 August 2026, marking 28 years since the start of killings and abuses committed against Congolese Tutsis in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
He said: “Twenty-eight years ago to the day, on August 2, 1998, a long period of genocidal barbarity, hate speech, and persecution against Congolese Tutsis began in Kinshasa and other regions of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).”
Minister Nduhungirehe said these atrocities were triggered by hate speech delivered by Abdoulaye Yerodia Ndombasi, who was DRC’s Foreign Minister at the time.
He said Ndombasi described his fellow Congolese Tutsis as “waste and microbes that must be eradicated methodically and resolutely.”
Nduhungirehe said that from that point on, “the Tutsis were thus lynched, thrown off bridges, and persecuted in Kinshasa and elsewhere in the country.”
He said what makes this especially painful is that despite Ndombasi holding office in the Congolese government, and despite an international arrest warrant issued against him by Belgium, he was never brought before Congolese justice.
“Upon his death in February 2019, President Tshisekedi even granted him a funeral with all the honors of the Republic,” he said.
At the time, President Tshisekedi sent Vital Kamerhe to represent him at the funeral of this politician, whose remarks are remembered as one of the events that triggered the killings of Congolese Tutsis.
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