Conference on the recognition of the Genocide in DRCongo held in Kalemie -Tanganyika Province

Conference on the recognizing of the Genocide in the Democratic Republic of Congo, in Kalemie City, Tanganyika Province

The National Association of the Victims of DRC together with COJESKI-DRC and the Congolese Civil Society known as SOCICO organized a Conference in Kamelie on this Saturday November 8^th, 2025, under the Theme: International and National Recognition of the Genocide in DRCongo

The main Speaker, Kulihoshi Musikami Pecos, the National Coordinator of COJESKI DRC, traced the history of brutal massacres in DRC which started early 1990s and which continue up to now with various wars. Tanganyika Province and the City of Kalemie is believed to be hostile for such activities and many people view these activities as sensitive politically because most of political actors who participated in various massacres are originally from the former great Katanga which include Tanganyika Province.

As a result of such perception of sensitivity of the Campaign, over the years no activities have been done in this Province, most of young people and elderly people in the Hall witnessed they had no ideas about all various massacres committed in DRC, some hear about sporadically on the Radios and from Social Media but they do not know it real and serious to that extend.

The idea was exactly to challenge that perception of sensitivity and mitigate the debate, we are so much aware of the risks especially threats and intimidations but we are committed to spread the debate in order to challenge ignorance.

In his presentation Kulihoshi Pecos highlighted about our dark history characterized by wars since 1996 up to day which claimed the lives of thousands of innocent people including lives in this particular Province which witnessed massacres caused by Ethnic Wars between Bantu and Twaa (Pygmies) over the years.

He also exposed on the history of the GenoCost which is now commemorated each August 2^nd of every year and observed that activities are not so much carried out in this province. Recognizing the Genocide is justice and reparation to the survivors who are demanding for justice and that should start from us now. We may not achieve much if Congolese people are not fully aware of what happens and what is happening in their country where people are massacred because they are in a village which has minerals, because their houses are near the Forest, and because they belong to a certain tribe which perpetrators want to finish. It was a time to reflect on how people are claiming power through wars in which thousands of people are killed so that one person becomes a President.

On top of that issues of justice to the survivors, memorials, reparations and the guarantee of no repetition where also addressed in order to promote transitional justice in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Victims are in various categories which we found direct victims and indirect victims, however it was clear to not that each person in Eastern DRC has in one way or the other been victim of the various wars.

The audience was composed of Actors of the Civil Society, Students, Journalists, legal practitioners and Local Authorities who also in their daily lives shared their experiences.

Questions

Various questions were asked focusing on understanding what genocide means, the current legal framework in DRC, the roles of the Civil Society and the Young People in order to prevent genocide, the political obstacles that may be associated to this campaign, the strategies and plans to fully create awareness among local communities, and issues of restoring the dignity of the victims through projects.

All these questions were discussed and the audience left when there were still more issues to talk, we recognize that we did not take all the concerns of the participants because of the time allocated to us to access and use the Hall, and promised to organize more events around all these crimes in DRC.