‘We must fight to the last drop of our blood’

In this conversation with Progressive International’s Tanya Singh, Bahebwa discusses how the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo is not a recent crisis but a continuous, systematic project of exploitation rooted in a history that spans from the 14th-century slave trade to the ethnic divisions sown by colonizers. He asserts that the international community's inaction is not a failure but proof of complicity, enabling a system where foreign powers and businesses use regional proxies and puppet governments to control the country and plunder its resources, leaving the Congolese people to fight alone for their very survival.

Tanya Singh: What are the most profound and overlooked layers of history and international involvement that we must sit with to even begin comprehending the cycle of violence and resilience in the Democratic Republic of Congo?

Raphael Bahebwa: I must start by saying that the Congo has never truly known peace. This conflict has deep roots, stretching back to the 14th century with the arrival of slave traders. The atrocities began then and have never truly ceased. There is a long history of our people being raped, killed, and our towns being burned. I am from Bukavu in South Kivu. An attack on one centimetre of the Congo is an attack on us all.

What does this mean for daily life? I was in DRC in December 2024. I witnessed how our people are living hand-to-mouth, unable to even think about prosperity or development. They can only think about what they will eat today and whether they will survive tomorrow.

I met a colleague who was forced to flee his home in the mountains to come to the town. He told me, "Raphael, you don't stay here, you don't understand." Then he explained: his wife and daughters were raped, and his crops were stolen by rebels. He saw no other option but to abandon his land. His is not an isolated story.

Life in the Kivu is now defined by fear. There is relentless rape, torture, and unpredictable violence. We cannot predict what each day will bring. The very meaning of life has been stripped away. This is the overlooked reality.

To understand this, we must look back at history. 

Before the Berlin Conference, Congo, Burundi, and Rwanda were one. The colonisers arrived and told one group they were superior to others, planting a deadly seed of ethnic division that we are still harvesting today. The current war is driven by those who were taught this ideology of superiority and who now serve as enforcers for a new colonial system — foreign powers and businesses that want to loot our minerals with no regulation.

What is happening in Congo is identical to what is happening in Palestine and South Sudan. It is a geopolitical project that terrorises our people, drives them from their land, and creates chaos so that minerals can be extracted without oversight or taxes. Villages are plundered so that others can profit. It is a step-by-step plan to dismantle the Congo, and it has been going on for generations.

TS: Raphael, based on your observations since 1996, could you help us understand the deep ramifications of this violence on the people of DRC?

RB: From what I have witnessed since this war began, this conflict is different. While war often targets men as the primary resisters, in Congo, the weapons of war are deliberately aimed at women and children. This is by design.

I have seen things with my own eyes that are hard to comprehend. I saw pregnant women whose stomachs were cut open to remove the baby, killing the mother. I have seen the rape of minor children—two years old, five years old, ten years old. Why? Why are young boys, just 12 or 13 years old, given big guns and forced to fight? I have a picture of a UN peacekeeper standing next to a young boy of maybe 14 carrying a Kalashnikov. This is not a simple war; it is a systematic destruction.

This targeting is a calculated weapon. When you destroy a woman's ability to bear children and to nurture life, you destroy the nation's ability to multiply. When you kill the children, you exterminate the future leaders and the very future of the country. The goal is to make the nation disappear.

This social and psychological effect disables people from thinking about tomorrow. There is no planning for the future, no sustainable projects for two or ten years from now. The community lives in constant fear, surviving from bread to mouth, only thinking about what they will eat today because they believe they may be dead tomorrow.

TS: What’s been concerning for me is the failure of the international community, which often expresses concern about the conflict in the DRC, yet remains silent when it's time for direct action. In your view, what is the real reason for this failure?

RB: I cannot speak for other activists, Tanya, but my perspective is this: I look at the international community, and I see a profound tragedy.

The history of Congo tells us everything. First, King Leopold II butchered half of our population—10 million people. Now, the M23 and those who send them have already slaughtered 6 million [the latest official figure]. The intention seems to be the extermination of the Congolese people.

And this leads to your broader question. The truth is, before any tragedy strikes a nation, the international community is well informed. They send investigators to Congo; European parliamentarians have extensive reports. Yet, no one acts. This is our deepest fear. We are forced to ask: Does the international community truly exist? Or does it only exist for Europe, but not for Africa?

What is happening in Congo is also happening in South Sudan and elsewhere. They are supposed to play a role, but they close their eyes because they are complicit. If given a platform, I would tell them this directly: You are part of it. This includes UN personnel from the very superpowers that enable this. Everyone who pretends to help comes for the minerals, serving their own interests instead of defending the Congolese people and our future.

If they are not complicit, then let them break their silence. Let them publicly condemn Rwanda for invading Congo. Let them condemn Uganda. Let them show up.

But the proof of their guilt is in their silence. 

TS: Many analyses of the genocide in the DRC disregard the role of the West in destroying Congo’s sovereignty. From your perspective, how has this external control been enforced?

RB: To speak honestly, the core issue is not one of simple governance. The real question is: who does a leader serve? It doesn't matter if you are Congolese; what matters is whether you serve the Congolese people or foreign interests. The system is designed to ensure that a true Congolese leader can never hold power.

We see this in the historical blueprint: why was Patrice Lumumba killed? Why was President Laurent Kabila assassinated? His so-called son, Joseph Kabila, was then put in power for 18 years without any real investigation into his father's murder. 

This control is enforced today through regional proxies and stolen political mandates. Since 1994, America has backed Paul Kagame as a superpower in the region, with the objective of conquering Congo. Politically, they choose who leads. In the last election, Félix Tshisekedi was not the people's choice; he came to fulfil an external agenda. Martin Fayulu was the chosen leader of the Congolese people. If you want real change for the DRC, they will not give you access.

So, my answer is this: we are fighting a system where our own government is not the Congolese government. It is a puppet government working for a "Congo without the Congolese." This is the truth.

That is why our work with the Congolese Solidarity Campaign is so critical and so difficult. We are a small movement training future leaders. We have members in Kinshasa and in South and North Kivu, though in the Kivus, many have been scattered or forced into refugee camps in Uganda. The challenge is a profound lack of support. Our people lack everything, from social support to an education system that is frozen in the 1960s. They don't have the tools to defend themselves.

This is precisely why we organise from the outside. We are building a new generation with a new mentality to continue the mission that Lumumba never finished. But our members on the ground are silenced by fear. Recently in Bukavu, houses were burned, our members fled, and we cannot even communicate with them—they are too afraid to speak to us.

We must fight to the last drop of our blood, because without that, we have no future. We Congolese are alone in this. There is not a single politician in power who is doing anything for the Congo. But even if we do not lead, we must ensure our children have a legacy to carry on.

Image: The roots of war in eastern Congo