Translated and edited by Africa Faith and Justice Network
The South -Kivu governor’s communication Office, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Mr. Buhendwa Eluga, a political science professor and the President of the Higher Institute of Commerce (ISC) of Uvira was arrested by Rwandan authorities while he was lecturing in a school in Rwanda and taken to an unknown destination. He is the second Congolese after Idesbald Byabuze to be arrested by the Rwandan authorities. Professor Buhendwa Eluga, a native of Luvungi (Uvira), South Kivu, began his high school studies at the Mungombe Seminary (Mwenga Territory) and finished at the Alfajiri Institute (a Jesuits high school) in Bukavu in the late seventies. After attending law school in Kinshasa where he was active in the students movement, he went to Congo-Brazzaville and then to France where he got a PhD in political science.  He also holds a doctorate in economics.
He is one of the Congolese intellectuals who decided to return to Congo to help improve the educational system of our country, and chose to settle in a rural part of the country where the youth need him most, so he used to say. Passionate Pan-Africanist, Professor Buhendwa Eluga is known for his involvement in bringing about peace and inter-ethnic coexistence in the Great Lakes region. As the president of the Higher Institute of Commerce of Uvira, he believed he could contribute to bringing the people of the Great Lakes together by giving lectures in universities in the region (Congo, Burundi and Rwanda).
We appeal to our Ministry of Foreign Affairs to seek his immediate release. We also call on all peace-loving individuals and human rights defenders and those who fight for democracy in the Great Lakes Region, to mobilize for the release of Professor Buhendwa Eluga.