President Paul Kagame has reiterated that Rwanda’s problem has always been the security threats springing from neighbouring DR Congo, and not minerals.

Kigali has maintained defensive measures along the border with DR Congo due to the security threat posed by the Congolese army (FARDC) and its allies including FDLR, a DR Congo-based terrorist militia founded by remnants of the masterminds of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.

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During an interview with Mario Nawfal, an American blogger and host of one of the largest social media shows, who was in Rwanda last week, Kagame stressed that the issue has never been DR Congo’s minerals, but the security threats, mainly poised by the genocidal militia that is backed by the Congolese government.

On several occasions, Kinshasa has claimed that Rwanda’s mineral imports are "stolen” from DR Congo, a false and dangerous narrative that has been accepted and spread by Western countries, blaming Rwanda for the conflict in eastern DR Congo.

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Kagame said Rwanda was made the one to absorb the entire problem caused by countries which get billions (from Congolese mines) and leave nothing behind because they have the power of the media and continue to benefit from bad politics in the neighbouring country.

"Our problem is not minerals. It has nothing to do with minerals. Ours is about security. And once we are not assured of our security, we can't be thinking about minerals in that situation. No, that would be the last thing on our minds,” he said.

He pointed out that on the list of 100 entities including China, Europe, US, Canada, and some African countries, interested in DR Congo’s minerals, Rwanda would come at the bottom.

"The situation is such that it has been made to look like the ones least concerned with the minerals have been the ones accused for the entire problem of these hundreds who get billions and billions and leave nothing behind.”

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Kagame said that the conflict is eastern DR Congo has always been of indigenous families in the region who found themselves as part of DR Congo after the dividing of territories due to the Berlin Conference of 1884-1885 and have been living there for centuries.

"You can talk about others who migrated and went to Congo from Rwanda or whatever it is. But there are those who are indigenous to that place. These are the ones who are fighting, whom the government is uprooting and telling to go back to Rwanda,” he said, referring to the AFC/M23 movement. Rwanda has been hosting more than 130,000 Congolese refugees for the past 23 years, whom Kinshasa has refused entry in their home country, Kagame said.

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The ongoing war between the Congolese government army coalition that includes FDLR, over 10,000 Burundian troops, hundreds of European mercenaries, and South Africa-led SADC forces, against AFC/M23 rebels, started in 2021.

The M23 is now part of a larger rebel coalition, Alliance fleuve Congo (AFC), created in December 2023.

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The AFC is fighting for governance that supports basic human rights, secures all Congolese citizens, and addresses the root causes of conflict. Its leaders have vowed to uproot tribalism, nepotism, corruption, and genocide ideology, among other vices, widespread in DR Congo.

History traces the roots of the M23 rebellion to earlier resistance groups formed during the overthrow of the Mobutu Sese Seko regime.

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Mobutu supported the genocidal forces which fled into Zaire (now DR Congo) following the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, and settled near Rwanda’s borders, launching attacks to destabilize Rwanda and reclaim power.

Despite repeated calls for international intervention, Rwanda was compelled to act unilaterally, aligning with opposition forces to bring down Mobutu in the First Congo War. After Mobutu's overthrow, Laurent-Désiré Kabila, once an ally of Rwanda, turned against his backers, and revived the genocidal forces.

This betrayal sparked the Second Congo War, lasting five years and involving multiple regional players.

Despite the Sun City Agreement, which ostensibly brought peace, the core issues—notably the presence of FDLR—remained unresolved.

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Different Congolese governments have used FDLR to exterminate the Congolese of Rwandan origin and to eventually destabilize Rwanda, something that Kagame says he discussed with every government in DR Congo.

Kagame said he has discussed the issue with President Felix Tshisekedi, several times, before the latest conflict broke out.

In the interview, Kagame also questioned the mission of the UN peacekeepers who have been in DR Congo for the last 24 years and having spent about $40 billion without delivering peace.

"What did they actually come to do? To bring peace, which peace have they brought? To solve the problem concerning Rwanda security of these FDLRs that have lived there for the last 30 years? Nothing. The only thing they did relating to this is repatriating some FDLRs and their families back to Rwanda.”