DR Congo’s problems are inherently political and can only be addressed through a political process, President Kagame has said. 

"The political process is very important for me and I guess for everyone else, it comes first,” Kagame said Monday, July 4, during a televised interview, which also featured live call-ins from ordinary citizens.

"You just don’t keep fighting and expect to find a solution for political crises, or for governance problems,” Kagame said, in response to a question on the possible solution to Congo’s crisis.

Kagame voiced his support for the East African Community-backed inter-Congolese peace dialogue under what is known as the Nairobi Process, but expressed concern that Kinshasa tends to shift goalposts whenever regional leaders have agreed on the way forward. 

"Things keep changing even after the meetings (Heads of State Conclave),” the Rwandan leader said. "We’ve had three meetings, two of which I attended, one I wasn’t able to attend but in which I was represented by our Foreign Minister (and which) I think had reached a good way of dealing with the problem,” he said. "That was a ceasefire; second, a political process continuing in Nairobi, and then make sure that the problem of FDLR is addressed”

The FDLR is a blacklisted terrorist group formed by remnants of the genocidal forces and militia behind the slaughter of more than a million people during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.

President Kagame was speaking as Rwandans marked the 28th anniversary of the country’s liberation, which saw Kagame-led Rwanda Patriotic Army forces defeat the genocidal machinery, with many Genocide ringleaders and perpetrators crossing into the Congo.

Kagame, who dismissed Kinshasa’s allegations that Kigali was backing the M23 rebels, said that regional leaders had had agreed on a path out of the Congo crisis but then DR Congo government turned around and said ‘no, we’re not going to speak to M23 because these are terrorists.’”

"All of a sudden terrorists were born as an excuse to not continue with the political process,” he said, referring to the decision by the government of President Felix Tshisekedi not to continue taking to the M23 Movement under the Nairobi Process.

Kagame wondered: "If they are terrorists, why would you fight terrorists as you call them and at the same time go looking for an ethnic group that is related to these "terrorists”? Can you brand an ethnic group a terrorist group? This sounds crazy, you can’t do that.”

‘The big catch’

During the third Conclave in Nairobi last month, Kagame recalled, the EAC leaders agreed to deployment of a joint force to the Congo "to ensure that the ceasefire we’re talking about actually holds and allows for political processes to take place.”

On Kinshasa’s insistence that Rwanda must not be part of the proposed EAC force, Kagame said Kigali had no issue with that.

"I am happy that this can be done without our involvement,” he said. "Rwanda is not asking for it and is not complaining about it”. 

However, he warned: "There is a big catch here; if you don’t address security concerns of Rwanda you have a problem on your hands.”

"I can see the President of Congo talking about it as if it’s a victory; no, victory will come when you’ve solved the crisis or these political problems.”  

Kagame said that, contrary to DR Congo’s claims, it was Kinshasa that was working with and arming the FDLR militia, enabling them to attack Rwanda, including in November 2019 when the group made incursions into Rwanda, killing civilians in Kinigi, Musanze District. He also cited the shelling of Rwanda’s territory by FARDC and FDLR on three occasions this year which killed civilians and destroyed property.

He said the intention was to suck Rwanda into DR Congo’s internal problems.

"We have been resisting that but I don’t know for how long if they continue doing what they’ve been doing,” he said.  

The Head of State said Congolese governments have a record of "behaving like spoiled kids; they cause trouble and then cry foul”. This, he said, has previously influenced some members of the international community to make wrong decisions.  

"This time around they (DR Congo) did what they did blatantly; they made a big mistake which everybody was able to see,” he said, adding that not many people have "bought into the lies the government has been airing on different occasions.” 

"Maybe the way of seeing things also is changing,” Kagame said, but hastened to point out that the UN forces in the Congo, Monusco, has supported FARDC, the Congolese army, despite being aware of the fact that the latter were fighting alongside the FDLR against the M23 rebels.

The President observed: "By the way, they’re supporting the government of Congo forces against their own people, the M23 we’re talking about are Congolese.”

"But to explain it further and show how bad the whole thing is, when the government forces are having problems with the M23 they take it to the Kinyarwanda-speaking Congolese, meaning it’s like ‘you’re the same people , so if you’re fighting then we shall go for your….’.

"I don’t see how anybody can justify this, but also it’s proof that the M23 are associated with these other Congolese who are being persecuted, it explains the point that what’s happening there, as an internal crisis, touches on the persecution of a people of the Congo,” Kagame said.

‘Ethnic persecution’

He added, "That’s why you’re fighting the M23 and when you’re not getting your way then you take it to their families, to their kith and kin, it becomes ethnic persecution.

"The fact of the matter is that these are Congolese, they’re not Rwandans, they’re only of Rwandese heritage or culture, but they are Congolese by nationality; how that happened you can’t ask me because I was not there, I am not responsible, Rwanda is not responsible.”

Millions of Kinyarwanda speaking communities and their ancestral territory found themselves on the Congo side of the border when colonialists divided up Africa and drew up colonial borders. 

Over the last decades, successive Congolese governments have sought to expel them, branding them Rwandans, and subjected them to discrimination and targeted ethnic violence, a major factor behind the emergence of armed groups like M23 rebels.

DR Congo’s political, military and civil society leaders have in recent weeks doubled down on hate speech and incitement to violence against Rwandophones, resulting in loss of lives – and some of the shocking videos of brutal attacks have been shared on social media platforms.

Kagame appealed to the authorities in Kinshasa to own up to their responsibility and address their internal issues, as opposed to looking for scapegoats.

"When they’ve fought M23 and have not defeated them, then it must be somebody else. For them, the problem is somebody else; it’s coming from somewhere else. 

"Until they learn to take their problem as their problem and find a solution, then we shall stay in this kind of mess that we find ourselves in,” Kagame said. 

"But why would Rwanda need to be involved in the Congo when we were building peace and security between the two countries from the beginning? How things changed, all of a sudden, I think the Congolese have a lot to explain themselves, not Rwanda.”