World
Rwandans in DRC live in terror as social media posts fuel xenophobia
Videos showing Congolese men armed with machetes are stoking hatred as tensions mount in the east
Life in Kinshasa was going well for Zawadi, a mother of two from Rwanda, until faraway fighting stoked Congolese anger against her country and videos of men with machetes prowling the city streets in search of Rwandans surfaced on social media.
The trouble started in May, when the M23 rebel group resumed heavy fighting against the military in the eastern reaches of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) after years of relative quiet. The DRC accuses Rwanda of supporting M23, which Rwanda denies.
Hundreds of kilometres to the west, in the Congolese capital Kinshasa, Zawadi watched in horror as videos of anti-Rwandan demonstrations circulated on social media and people she knew started posting anti-Rwandan images and slogans...
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