DRC : FARDC suspends General Sylvain Ekenge for hateful remarks against Tutsi women

SOS Médias Burundi

Bukavu, December 29, 2025 — In an official statement released on Sunday and signed by the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC), Lieutenant General Jules Mbanza Mwilambwe, the Congolese army announced the suspension of Major General Sylvain Ekenge, until now the FARDC spokesperson.

This decision follows remarks deemed hateful and discriminatory, made on Saturday, December 27, 2025, during his appearance on the Congolese National Radio and Television (RTNC). According to the General Staff, these statements undermined national cohesion and explicitly targeted women of the Tutsi community, alluding to a supposed “supremacy” exercised through childbearing.

During this intervention, General Ekenge notably stated that “when you marry a Tutsi woman today, you must be careful,” suggesting an alleged demographic strategy. He also alluded to allegations of manipulation through family or marital ties, insinuating that Tutsi women could be used to transmit information or strengthen a form of foreign influence.

The army clarifies that this suspension is a precautionary measure, taken pending possible further disciplinary sanctions, and emphasizes that these remarks do not reflect the official position of the FARDC (Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo) or that of the Congolese government.

Hate speech : a widely shared concern

General Ekenge’s statements have sparked outrage in the DRC and internationally. Political leaders, civil society organizations, human rights defenders, and foreign diplomats have denounced hate speech and calls for stigmatization, deemed potentially dangerous in a context marked by strong ethnic tensions.

In this climate, the case of National Deputy Justin Bitakwira, elected from the Uvira constituency in the east of the country, is regularly cited. He is under European sanctions, notably for similar hateful and stigmatizing remarks against the Tutsi community.

Documented violence in the east of the country

In the DRC, hate speech against Tutsis has already had dramatic consequences. In the provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu, civilians—as well as officers of the regular army—have been killed, burned, stoned, even mutilated or subjected to acts of barbarity, simply for being Tutsi or Kinyarwanda-speaking.

President Félix Tshisekedi has repeatedly and publicly condemned these acts, calling them unacceptable and contrary to the values ​​of the Republic. However, on the ground, concerns persist within the defense forces, particularly following the arrest or removal of several senior Tutsi officers, including Generals Jonas Padiri and Éric Ruhorimbere.

Last September, Wazalendo militiamen, supported by Kinshasa, along with a segment of the local civil society, opposed the appointment of Tutsi General Olivier Gasita as commander of the 33rd Military Region in Uvira, before he was subsequently transferred elsewhere. This episode reignited fears of ethnic discrimination within the security apparatus.

An explosive security situation in eastern Congo

General Ekenge’s remarks come in an already extremely tense context, where M23 rebels are clashing with the FARDC, supported by Burundian troops and the Wazalendo militias backed by Kinshasa.

Reactivated in 2021, the M23, predominantly composed of Congolese Tutsis, now controls several strategic territories in North and South Kivu, including the provincial capitals of Goma and Bukavu since early 2025, as well as crucial mining sites. Among these is the Rubaya deposit in Masisi (North Kivu), one of the world’s largest coltan deposits, which supplies a significant portion of the tantalum used in the electronics industry and new technologies.

Despite repeated denials from Kigali, a report by UN experts, dismissed as a “sham” by Rwandan authorities, claims the presence of 5,000 to 7,000 Rwandan soldiers alongside AFC/M23 fighters.

The M23 is now affiliated with the Congo River Alliance (AFC), led by Corneille Nangaa, former president of the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI), which advocates for the establishment of a federal state in the DRC.

Since early December, the rebels have made dramatic advances in South Kivu, seizing several strategic locations, including the city of Uvira, situated a few kilometers from Bujumbura, Burundi’s commercial capital.

The fighting continues despite the Washington Agreement, signed on December 4, 2025, between the DRC and Rwanda under US mediation. Burundi participated as an observer, represented by President Évariste Ndayishimiye. Faced with the M23’s advances in the Rusizi Plain, Burundi recently repatriated a large portion of its troops, deployed since March 2023, to support the FARDC (Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo) and the Wazalendo militias allied with the Congolese government.

A society fractured by political manipulation

The DRC has approximately 450 tribes or ethnic groups. Yet, a segment of the Congolese population, manipulated by the political rhetoric, continues to view Congolese Tutsis as foreigners who have “invaded” the country.

For Bernard Maingain, a member of the legal team representing the civil parties from the Banyamulenge, Congolese Tutsi, and Hema communities, the situation is alarming :

“There is an atrocious situation that is taking on the appearance of ethnic cleansing, or even genocide.”
“In a few decades, if we continue like this, we will create, as in the time of North America with the Native Americans, Tutsi reservations in eastern Congo.”

In this context of heightened ethnic tensions and fierce fighting in eastern DRC, the suspension of General Sylvain Ekenge illustrates both the fragility of national cohesion and the risks that hate speech poses to the safety of Tutsi civilians and soldiers. While the M23 continues its territorial advances and control of strategic mining sites, and while Burundian troops retreat, the question of regional stability remains more than ever at the heart of humanitarian and political concerns.