THE WORLD CAN HEAR CONGO SCREAM — BUT IT CHOOSES SILENCE

When 75 Nobel Prize winners speak with one voice, the world should listen. This week, through the French newspaper Le Monde, they called for urgent action to end what they rightly call “the Congolese tragedy.” It is not just a tragedy. It is a slow genocide happening before the eyes of the world. For more than 30 years, my country has been bleeding while the powerful nations look away.

Six million people have been killed. Twenty-six million face hunger. Almost eight million have been forced from their homes. Children are being raped, women are being used as weapons of war, and our villages are turned into graves. And yet, global silence continues. The UN’s humanitarian plan for Congo is less than ten percent funded. Less than ten percent — as if Congolese lives are worth less than others.

The Nobel laureates, including our own Dr. Denis Mukwege, spoke truth to power. They said what many have been afraid to say: Rwanda is behind this war, feeding and protecting M23 rebels who steal our minerals and terrorize our people. They reminded the world that this war is not about tribes or religion — it is about money. The coltan and cobalt from our soil are inside the phones and electric cars people use every day. The world enjoys technology built on the bones of our children.

If this war were happening in Europe, the reaction would be instant. Sanctions, outrage, and speeches would fill every screen. But because it is happening in Africa, the world watches quietly. That is what the laureates called “a double standard.” It is not just politics. It is racism hidden behind diplomacy. It tells us that some lives matter more than others.

The call from these Nobel laureates is clear. They demand an unconditional ceasefire. They want Rwandan troops to leave our land and M23’s crimes to end. They are asking for an international tribunal to judge those who committed atrocities. They are calling for justice because without justice, there will never be peace. I agree with them. Congo does not need another empty peace deal. It needs accountability.

But as the world ignores these cries, our government is busy silencing its own people. Just this week, the Congolese journalists’ union, UNPC, condemned the government’s decision to ban media coverage of Joseph Kabila’s party, the PPRD. For ninety days, journalists are forbidden to mention his name. Imagine that — in a country dying for truth, they now forbid people from speaking. That is not democracy. That is fear.

The CSAC, our so-called media regulator, claims it is protecting peace. But what peace is built on silence? When journalists cannot report freely, the truth dies. When citizens cannot speak, corruption grows. When the press is treated like the enemy, tyranny wins. The UNPC is right to call this censorship. They said it clearly: “A priori regulation is censorship without a name.” And that is exactly what it is.

How can we talk about justice for Congo while the truth is being strangled at home? How can the world claim to care about our suffering when even our leaders punish those who tell the truth? This is the sickness of our nation — impunity for the killers, comfort for the corrupt, and punishment for the brave.

But we, the people, will not stop speaking. We will continue to write, to shout, and to expose. Because silence is complicity. Congo does not need pity; it needs courage — from the world, from our leaders, and from each of us.

The Nobel laureates said, “We all have a piece of the Congo in our pockets.” That is true. But for us who live this pain, Congo is not in our pockets. It is in our blood. And as long as we breathe, we will keep reminding the world: justice must come, or the world will share our shame.