Rwandan President Paul Kagame at a youth summit in Kigali. June 26, 2016. Photo courtesy Paul Kagame/Flickr.

The following is an excerpt from Rwanda’ 30-Year Assault on Congo: The Crimes, The Criminals, and the Cover-Up by author, journalist, and Canadian Dimension columnist Judi Rever, released on March 1, 2026 by Baraka Books. For more information, visit www.barakabooks.com.

In 1996, forces loyal to Rwanda’s military leader Paul Kagame entered the Congolese village of Muheto, killing more than a dozen civilians and setting fire to countless homes. A few weeks later, the attackers returned and slaughtered 16 more people, in what would be the beginning of a decades-long campaign by Rwanda and its proxies to use Congolese bodies as battlefields. While many armed groups have committed heinous atrocities over the years, Kagame’s fighters have always been the dominant predators in eastern Congo. His forces have captured farmers’ fields, stripped families of their livelihoods and trafficked vast quantities of strategic minerals, which they sell to big tech suppliers on the global market. Kagame and his military coterie have become rich while millions of Congolese people have died in agony. As a geopolitical lynchpin on the African continent, Kagame has largely enjoyed a privileged status with Western nations and has remained legally and politically untouchable.

Trying to understand the vast chasm between justice and international criminal law is a sobering experience. Year after year, the Rwandan and Congolese people have witnessed........

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