Nobel Laureate Mukwege Warns of "Slow Epistemicide" Over Kivu University Closures

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Denis Mukwege said on Aug 26 that Kinshasa's suspension of 11 public universities in AFC/M23-held Goma and Bukavu amounted to a "slow epistemicide" — "a threat to knowledge, the capacity to think, to research, and to produce knowledge" — declaring that "the education of our youth is sacred and non-negotiable." Mukwege argued the closures, layered atop existing restrictions on airports, banks, humanitarian aid and freedom of movement in rebel-held territory, were "tightening the noose" on regional populations, and called for an end to military interference in educational institutions and a safe resumption of classes nationwide, including in AFC/M23-controlled areas.