President Paul Kagame has said Rwanda cannot be responsible for DR Congo's problems when it has its own issues to deal with.

He said this on Thursday, February 5 as he opened the 20th edition of the National Umushyikirano Council.at Kigali Convention Centre.

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Kagame said Rwanda will handle its own challenges but cannot accept to be blamed for the problems of other countries.

"Congo must own up. They have responsibilities and must not transfer them to Rwanda. We are not responsible for Congo,” he said.

He also spoke about defensive measures put in place to deal with the security threat posed by DR Congo-backed FDLR, a militia founded by remnants of perpetrators of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. He reiterated that the government has the responsibility to Rwandans.

"For protecting our people, that one we shall. There is no question about it," he said.

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Kagame dismissed allegations that Rwanda is responsible for the conflict in eastern DR Congo, urging those who doubt this position to verify the facts.

President Kagame clarified that Rwanda’s concern is about FDLR militia that continues to spread genocide ideology in the region, seeking to finish the Genocide they committed in Rwanda.

"They constantly point at Rwanda and threaten that they will attack us again the way they did before (the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi),” he said.

Kagame noted that many accusations are made against Rwanda, including that it is involved in DR Congo for minerals or territorial expansion. He said these claims are designed to distract from the real issue.

"They invent many reasons, but they avoid the main issue, which they also contributed to: the Interahamwe in DR Congo.”

The Interahamwe or the FDLR were settled in DR Congo and supported by the Congolese government and even integrated into Congolese armed forces (FARDC), Kagame said.

"The UN sent forces to DR Congo, MONUSCO. You would think they were sent there to address such issues,” he said.

He said the concept of the international community often becomes meaningless in practice.

"In the end, the convenient path is to find a culprit, and that culprit becomes Rwanda,” he added.

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Kagame said the international community often underestimates the threat posed by FDLR.

"What they are trying to say is: ‘How can you have such a big problem when some of them (FDLR) are old, even 90 years old?’”

"I respond: Even if they are 90, they are still there. And if they have children whom they train and fill with this ideology, and those children become militias or fighters within the FDLR, then their age becomes irrelevant.”

Kagame also dismissed claims that Rwanda should simply tolerate the threats because it is considered strong.

He noted that the country has often received threats from external actors over the security issues in DR Congo.

"The amount of threats we come under on a daily basis.... ‘We will do this if you don’t do that. We will do that if you don’t do this.’ Sometimes you feel choked.”

"But instead of being chocked by all that, I will be chocked by just being defiant and telling you to go to hell.”

"You can't create problems for me, at the same time come and blame me for these problems, and then start threatening me,” Kagame said.

He criticised what he described as a pattern where Congolese leaders and President Felix Tshisekedi are allowed to behave irresponsibly while Rwanda is pressured by external actors to act.

"And I tell them, Don’t you realise that by doing that you are actually emboldening this person not to find a solution to their problem or whatever problems are between us and them? ” Kagame said.