President Paul Kagame says he had a good discussion with the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres over the conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Kagame said, in a tweet, that discussions centered around ways and means to de-escalate and address the issues to a peaceful end are within their capacity, particularly referring to established frameworks including Nairobi, Luanda and other international efforts. “We just have to commit ourselves to applying them,” he added. The development comes at a time when bilateral relations between Rwanda and DRC continue to deteriorate. Two days ago, Rwanda’s envoy to DRC, Vincent Karega, was expelled from the country’s territory, a move that has since been described as not only ‘regrettable’, but also Kinshasa increased efforts to ‘cover up and distract from their own governance and security failures.” In the same statement, Rwanda also condemned hate speech and violence in DR Congo against Rwandans and Kinyarwanda-speaking Congolese communities.
