Nduhungirehe Accuses DRC of “Deliberate Insult” Over Genocost Commemorations

Kigali, August 4, 2026 - Rwanda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Olivier Nduhungirehe, has accused the Democratic Republic of Congo of deliberately distorting the history of the country’s conflicts by commemorating what Kinshasa calls “Genocost” while allegedly overlooking violence against Congolese Tutsis.

The DRC marks August 2 as Genocost, a commemoration dedicated to millions of Congolese people the government says were killed over decades of conflict linked to the exploitation of the country’s natural resources. The concept was incorporated into the DRC Constitution in December 2022, while President Félix Tshisekedi led the first official commemoration in 2023 and inaugurated a Genocost memorial in Kinshasa in 2025.

During the August 2, 2026 commemoration, Tshisekedi accused Rwanda and the AFC/M23 coalition of responsibility for atrocities committed in the DRC over the past three decades. Nduhungirehe rejected that narrative, arguing that Kinshasa’s commemoration ignores violence committed against Tutsis in the DRC, particularly during the outbreak of the Second Congo War in 1998.

Nduhungirehe pointed specifically to violence in Kinshasa on August 2, 1998, when, according to his account, Congolese Tutsis were targeted, beaten, pursued and killed. He also cited statements attributed to then-Foreign Affairs Minister Abdoulaye Yerodia Ndombasi, whom he accused of using dehumanizing language against Tutsis. Nduhungirehe said Belgium subsequently issued an arrest warrant against Ndombasi over allegations linked to his statements, but that he was never prosecuted by Congolese authorities.

Ndombasi died on February 19, 2019, and Nduhungirehe criticized Tshisekedi for allowing him to receive an official funeral and state honors. The Rwandan minister argued that Kinshasa cannot present itself solely as a victim of mass atrocities while, in his view, failing to acknowledge violence against Tutsis and the role of Congolese political actors in fueling ethnic persecution.