President Paul Kagame has debunked claims made by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and clarified points discussed during conversations between them over the situation in eastern DR Congo. Following conversations held virtually by the two Heads of State on two occasions, Ramaphosa and other South African officials made statements which Kagame said contained a lot of distortion, deliberate attacks, and even lies. The duo held talks following the fall of Goma, the capital of North Kivu Province of DR Congo, to the M23 rebel group, a Congolese outfit. “If words can change so much from a conversation to a public statement, it says a lot about how these very important issues are being managed,” Kagame said. ALSO READ: Rwanda calls for neutralisation of FDLR militia, withdrawal of foreign troops “The Rwanda Defence Force is an army, not a militia,” Kagame said in response to his counterpart’s statement that the fighting in eastern DR Congo “is the result of an escalation by the rebel group M23 and Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) militia engaging the Armed Forces of the DRC (FARDC) and attacking peacekeepers from the SADC Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (SAMIDRC).” Something that Kagame clarified noting that SAMIDRC is not a peacekeeping force which has no place in this situation, instead, it was authorized by SADC as a belligerent force engaging in offensive combat operations to help the Congolese government fight against its own people, working alongside genocidal armed groups like FDLR which target Rwanda, while also threatening to take the war to Rwanda itself. On several occasions, He emphasized that Rwanda will never fail to protect its sovereignty and people, knowing very well the price of security and peace. “SAMIDRC displaced a true peacekeeping force, the East African Community Regional Force, and this contributed to the failure of the negotiation processes.” ALSO READ: UN commends Rwanda for heeding 'last minute call' to relocate Goma-based staff Additionally, he said: “Ramaphosa has never given a warning of any kind, unless it was delivered in his local language which I do not understand.” However, he took note that the South African President asked for support to ensure that his army has adequate electricity, food and water –a request Kagame agreed to help communicate. ‘M23 didn’t kill South Africa soldiers’ From the conversations of the two Heads of State, it occurred that President Ramaphosa confirmed to Kagame that M23 rebels did not kill the soldiers from South Africa, rather, FARDC did. During the intense fighting earlier this week, South Africa lost 13 soldiers who were fighting alongside Congolese government forces, FARDC, European mercenaries, and a coalition of other groups, including FDLR –the militia group formed by perpetrators of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. “If South Africa wants to contribute to peaceful solutions, that is well and good, but South Africa is in no position to take on the role of a peacemaker or mediator. And if South Africa prefers confrontation, Rwanda will deal with the matter in that context any day,” Kagame noted. In recent weeks, the M23 captured the towns of Minova, in South Kivu, and Masisi, in North Kivu, ahead of taking the city of Goma on Sunday night. The rebels demand direct peace talks with the Congolese government, which has ruled out any possibility of talks with the rebels, accusing them of being a terrorist movement. Regional initiatives have failed to end the war politically, with the Congolese government declining political will and pursuing a military solution.
