Marchers call for help to stop genocide
The Portland group wants to raise awareness about conflict in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo.

By WILLA PLANK Staff Writer July 28, 2007

Gordon Chibroski/Staff Photographer
People from the Democratic Republic of the Congo cross Franklin
Arterial on their way to Exchange Street on Friday to bring attention
to violence in their home country. Latisha Runyambo, 10, far left, and
Maggie Butoto, 17,lead the marchers, who attend International
Christian Fellowship church in Portland.

Ruth Mugisha does not know where her family is hiding amid rising
violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s eastern
region. Most news she receives is from relatives in Rwanda.

`All I know is that they are in the bushes,’ Mugisha, 22, said about
her family. `They are waiting for us to act. They don=80=99t have any
hope where they are. They are surrounded by enemies.’

Mugisha was among 65 marchers Friday in Portland working to raise
awareness about intensified conflict in the eastern Democratic
Republic of the Congo.

`I’m here because I want people to know that my people are dying,’
Mugisha said. `Their houses are burned. =80¦ Our country doesn’t
accept us.’

According to the march organizers, the Congolese government and a
military group called the Interahamwe, responsible for the 1994
genocide in Rwanda, have increased efforts to exterminate the Tutsis
in the country’s eastern region. The Banyamulenge =80` those Congolese
Tutsis who live in South Kivu – have been affected directly.

The marchers, who included members of the Banyamulenge community and
other supporters, walked from the International Christian Fellowship
on Lafayette Street to the Old Port offices of U.S. Rep. Tom Allen and
U.S. Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins. Marchers chanted
traditional hymns, shouted phrases such as `Stop genocide’ and held
signs such as `Banyamulenge have the right to live. Machetes and fire
kills as well as weapons of mass destruction.’

Mugisha said people need to treat the Banyamulenge as any other
people.

Mugisha said that when she was a young girl, people would look at her
differently just because she was Tutsi. Mugisha is originally from the
Democratic Republic of the Congo, but moved to Rwanda when she was
10. Tutsis are not accepted where she is from, she said.

`Why do I have to be treated this way?’ Mugisha said. Mugisha will be
starting her second year at Southern Maine Community College. She
plans to study interpreting and translation services.

`I think the U.N. has the power to tell (Congo President Joseph)
Kabila to stop this,’ Mugisha said.

Amani Sebaziga, who moved to Portland in 2004, has heard of his
relatives hiding in churches.

`Honestly, up to now I don’t have any news,’ Sebaziga said. `All I
know is that they are in danger.’

Sebaziga said the U.S. government should put pressure on the
Democratic Republic of the Congo to stop the killings. Alan Cyr of
Arundel said he has been friends with people in the Banyamulenge
community for five years and has traveled to Africa.

`Now they just want to make a statement for their people,’Cyr
said. `It’s a festering coal burning in the background.=80=9D Ainsley
Wallace of Portland also said the people in this community are her
closest friends.

`We have the opportunity to stop (something) before it’s too late like
in Rwanda,’ Wallace, 27, said.

Justin Nsenga, one of the organizers, said he thinks the message was
heard but that action is now needed.

`The issue is to stop the genocide,’ Nsenga said.

Staff Writer Willa Plank can be contacted at 791-6326 or at:
wplank@pressherald.com
Copyright © 2007 Blethen Maine Newspapers