THE BLOOD OF OUR CHILDREN IS THE PRICE OF THE WORLD’S SILENCE
What is happening in eastern Congo is no longer a war — it is a slaughter. The reports coming from Bukavu and South Kivu are almost too painful to believe. Children executed by M23 rebels. Women raped in front of their families. Journalists hunted. Lawyers hiding. Human rights defenders fleeing for their lives. This is not just violence — it is a complete collapse of humanity.
The M23, backed and armed by Rwanda, continues to advance, and with every step they take, they leave behind a trail of blood. Hospitals have been attacked. Prisons have been broken open. The weak are being targeted, and the world keeps watching as if our lives are cheap.
The United Nations has confirmed what we already know: M23 has executed children. Executed. Not caught in crossfire. Executed. Some of these children were forced to carry weapons. Others were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. In the eyes of these rebels, even innocence is a threat.
Volker Türk, the UN Human Rights Chief, has called on Rwanda and M23 to respect human rights and international law. But what good are words when the killers are still marching? How many times will we hear the same statements of “deep concern” while our people die? Rwanda has turned our suffering into its strategy. They arm rebels, occupy our land, and then pretend to talk about peace.
Meanwhile, our own government in Kinshasa seems powerless — or worse, indifferent. Soldiers in the East are starving. Leaders in the capital are silent. And those who speak up — the activists, the journalists, the defenders — are being silenced one by one.
This week alone, several journalists and human rights defenders in Bukavu and Goma received death threats. Some have fled. Others are trapped. These are not foreign spies or agitators — they are Congolese citizens demanding that the world see what is happening. Yet even they are hunted down like enemies.
When human rights workers run for their lives and judges hide from convicts who have escaped prison, what remains of a nation? Who protects the people when even the protectors are targeted?
This is not only a humanitarian crisis — it is a moral collapse. The international community must stop pretending that this is just another African conflict. Rwanda’s fingerprints are all over this bloodshed. M23’s guns and uniforms do not come from the wind. Their intelligence, logistics, and coordination are too precise to be a coincidence. This is an invasion disguised as rebellion.
The UN says over seven million people are now displaced inside the DRC. That is seven million broken dreams. Seven million people without homes, without safety, without a future. And now even children are being executed to send a message of terror. What message could ever justify that?
Volker Türk has warned that this conflict could spread even further — that it could ignite the entire region again, just like in 1998. He is right. The danger is real. But this is not just about regional stability. This is about human life, about the simple truth that no child should die for minerals, no woman should be raped for territory, no journalist should be silenced for telling the truth.
The M23 and their backers must be held accountable — not in press statements, but in real actions. Sanctions mean nothing when blood is flowing. Peace talks mean nothing when guns are louder than words.
And to our leaders — this is your country. You cannot keep hiding behind the language of diplomacy while your people are slaughtered. You cannot keep using peace conferences as an excuse for inaction. The people are watching. The world is watching. History is watching.
Every day that passes, Congo bleeds more. Every silence from the world is another bullet in the body of our nation.
The blood of our children cries from the soil. It will not be forgotten.