On Wednesday, March 4th, a video, purportedly of Rwandan soldiers captured in the Democratic Republic of Congo, started making the rounds on social media sites.
On one instance on Twitter, the video was shared with a French caption that translates to (as per Twitter’s built-in translation service provided by Google), “I salute the collusion that reigns between the Congolese population and the army of the Republic. The population apprehended these two Rwandan soldiers on Congolese soil with ‘massacre, theft and rape’ objectives.”
Je salue la connivence qui règne entre la population congolaise et l'armée de la République.
La population a appréhendé ces deux militaires rwandais en sol congolais avec objectifs "massacre, vol et viols"
@central_sage @PatrickKabeng12 @hervemoj1 @juantedbelkas @FalialaKiza pic.twitter.com/ZUc0afUD8r— le détective national. (@Detective00243) March 4, 2020
Background
The relationship between civilians and the military in the Congo is a vital one seeing as the country has experienced its fair share of violence, which has subjected civilians to widespread rape, sexual violence, massive human rights violations and extreme poverty.
The heavy presence of armed groups is a threat to both civilians and regional stability. Neighbouring countries have also been known to back militias and use them as proxies to attack one another and control economic resources. One of these countries happens to be Rwanda, whose military has had its members accused of supporting Congo’s rebel outfit M23.
Verification
A separation of the key frames using video verification tools followed by image searches shows that the images of the soldiers were used in a report dated September 10th, 2015.
The headline reads, “Burundi / Sécurité : Un employé de l’Ambassade du Rwanda capturé parmi les insurgés de Kiyenzi” which translates to “Burundi / Security: An employee of the Embassy of Rwanda captured among the Kiyenzi insurgents”.
The same video used in the post appears on YouTube bearing the same date.
The 2 individuals were reported to have attacked a military position of the National Defense Force of Burundi, FDN. The locals, who delivered them to the National Intelligence Service, SNR, captured them in Mugongo-Manga commune on Wednesday, September 09, 2015.
Verdict
No two Rwandan soldiers have been apprehended on Congolese soil and the claim is therefore FALSE.
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