A group of about three hundred Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) living in South Africa marched to the United States of America’s embassy in Tshwane on Thursday (yesterday) to deliver a memorandum expressing their anger against the US’s involvement in the war that is presently going on in their county.
The march by the Congolese Diaspora for Nelson Mandela Legacy together with another group called ARER, started at the Union Building before proceeding to the US embassy.
The group is calling for President of Russia Vladimir Putin to intervene and give them weapon to fight, call for dialogue and ceasefire.
At the United States Embassy, the marchers wanted to get into the building by force but were prevented by the heavy presence of police from doing so.
No one came out of the embassy to receive their memorandum, and this made the group very angry.
Chairperson of the Congolese Diaspora Frank Assimbo told Tshwane Talks that they were inspired by the late former president of South Africa Nelson Mandela to form this group in order to fight for an end to the war in their country DRC.
He blamed the neighboring country of Rwanda for causing the war in the DRC.
He lamented the fact that Rwanda’s president Paul Kagame together with the M23 rebels and Uganda are responsible for the war in the DRC and that they are supported by the United States of America.
“We don’t want to live in South Africa forever, we will go back to DRC once the war is over,” he said.
Assimbo said there are service delivery problems in South Africa because of the heavy presence of foreigners who compete for resources with South Africans.
“We must organise ourselves and go and fight for our country instead of waiting for SADEC to take decisions for us as the citizens of the DRC and we are calling Presidents Vladimir Putin to give us weapon to fight for our country,” fumed Assimbo.
Another member of the Congolese Diaspora Engineer Muje Jangumbi pointed out that millions of people have died over many years in the DRC because countries that are neighboring the country always cause conflict in the DRC as they want the wealth and minerals that are there.
“Our president Felix Tshisekedi engaged in diplomatic talks with neighboring countries asking them to live in peace with the DRC but his efforts have failed,” he said.
“DRC doesn’t bother anyone and wants to live in peace but countries surrounding it cause trouble there in pursuit of gold and diamonds,” he said.
“We are marching to the US embassy to show the world what the US is doing in the DRC,” said ARER member Diego Batiki.
“The Rwandan people who are killing people in the DRC are working for the United States of America imperialists who want minerals of our country,” he said.
He expressed sadness’s about the fact that two South African soldiers have already been killed in the DRC by M23 rebels and Rwandan government while on duty to protect the people of the DRC.
“Enough is enough, the United States of America must stop supporting the people of Rwanda who kill the DRC people,” said Batiki.
Batiki said they are giving the United States of America a week to respond to their demands.
“We will give the United States a second and third memorandum and after that we will decide what to do with American people wherever they are,” warned Batiki.
The memorandum includes the failure of the Nairobi and Luanda peace process and the double standards applied by the United States of America in the DRC war.
The two processes call for a ceasefire, yet Rwanda continues to attack the people of the DRC with support from the United States.
The memorandum also highlights the fact that among the millions of people who have died in the DRC war are pregnant women, babies, boys and girls and also the elderly.