In a searing, no-holds-barred interview with Claude Ndahiriwe of Tech-Biz.Today, Me Bernard Maingain—a prominent attorney at the Brussels Bar and the International Criminal Court—exposes what he describes as ongoing genocidal processes in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Maingain details a campaign of extermination orchestrated by a coalition of forces including the FNDB, FARDC, foreign mercenaries, CODECO, FDLR, and Wazalendo militia. The testimony paints a harrowing picture of the systematic targeting of Banyamulenge, Tutsi, and Hema populations—victims of machete massacres, immolation, cannibalism, live burials, and heavy shelling.

According to Maingain, these atrocities are unfolding under the watchful eye of MONUSCO, whose interventions, he notes with biting irony, are “coincidentally” always too late.

This vacuum of protection is mirrored by a total collapse of the rule of law; despite the scale of the violence, Congolese courts have failed to act on a single complaint. Maingain further highlights a broader crisis of human and economic rights affecting the Congolese people at large, with a particular emphasis on the exploitation and disenfranchisement occurring in the Katanga region.

Drawing from a real-time network of testimonies and evidence spanning the country’s eastern provinces, a grim picture of state and international accountability emerges. Maingain points directly to the “heavy responsibility” of the DRC, Burundi, and the United Nations, describing a resurgence of “the vile beast”—a reference to state-sponsored horror—rising once again from the depths.

Key Takeaways from the Interview:

  • Systemic Violence: Documentation of specific ethnic targeting of the Banyamulenge, Tutsi and Hema, and the methods used by the armed groups and the national armies.

  • Institutional Failure: The voluntary paralysis of the Congolese judiciary and the perceived “calculated” delays of UN peacekeepers.

  • Geopolitical Complicity: The alleged roles of a regional state, Burundi, and the MONUSCO’s UN international body in the current crisis.

This post is also available in: French