A Protest Today in Monument Square Protesting Abuses in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
Protesting Genocide in the DRC at Rally in Monument Square Today.
Georges Budago Makoko, A Spokesman for the Mahoo Peace Association at Monument Squaare.
About 200 members of the Banyameulenge community now living in southern Maine gathered at Monument Square this morning to protest the genocide of their countrymen in eastern Africa by Mai-Mai miltias. According to the recent but undated five page letter, the genocide is in its final stages.
The letter signed by Richard Munyentwari, of the Mahoro Peace Assocation in Maine, calls upon the international community, specifically the US, to assist in the aleviation of the on-going genocide.
Following the Monument Street gathering, the group marched to the office of Senator Susan Collins (R) to deliver the letter addressed to her and to Senator Angus King (I). Following that, the group accompanied by Portland Police, marched to the office of Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D) on the Portland waterfront. The group then returned to Monument Square before disbanding after noon time today.
The detailed letter states that neither the Congolese state nor the international community has taken steps to “sanction state actors and prominent public officlals fueling violence in the area.” The letter continues that the inaction to date “has emboldened those who have vowed to cleanse the Hauats Plateaus and even the entire DRC of any Banyamulenge presence.” Members of the Mahoro Peace Association (MPA) living in the US are asking for “moral, psychological and advocacy support.”
The letter rmakes recommendations to alleviate the situation including a US Congressional hearing before the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Commission on the ethnic cleansing of the Banyamulenge community in the DRC; Demand humanitarian assistance and protection through USAID and other US-based international agencies to displaced populations scattered across the Hauta Plateaux and the Ruzizi plain; Demand a review of US-DRC bilateral cooperation policies by requesting that the latter guararnates human rights, peace and equality for all its citizens including the Banyamulenge community living in eastern DRC. The foregoing are among the multiple recommendations of the Mahoro Peace Association in Maine
“We renew our hope that the United States will play a more active role in advocating for and providing humanitarian assistance to the displaced Banyamulenge population in distress and in intervening to build stability and peaceful coexistence between communities in South Kivu and the rest of the DRC,” the letter ends.