President Paul Kagame’s Press Secretary, Stéphanie Nyombayire, has accused American broadcaster CNN of editing Kagame's remarks in an interview to suit the network's predetermined narrative. The interview, conducted by CNN’s correspondent Larry Madowo on Monday, February 3, in Kigali, addressed key issues including regional security, sovereignty, and Rwanda’s stance on the ongoing crisis in eastern Congo. ALSO READ: Kagame: Support for FDLR, collabo with mercenaries can’t be business as usual Nyombayire confirmed via her X (formerly Twitter) official account that several statements made by the head of state were omitted from CNN’s final broadcast. The broadcast focused largely on whether Rwanda supports M23, with little attention given to the role of the DR Congo government in working with genocidal forces like the FDLR, a sanctioned genocidal outfit. To “set the record straight,” Nyombayire shared key excerpts from the interview. Kagame, in his original interview, was clear about Rwanda’s stance on the FDLR, a group founded by individuals with links to the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi and she quoted verbatim; “FDLR are associated and supported by governments in the region. Their aim is not only to fight M23, who are Congolese but to fight Rwanda and overthrow the government, as they have said publicly. Does anyone think Rwanda will sit back and wait for that to happen? Rwanda will fight back in whatever form, there is no question about it,” Kagame said. The President also reiterated his commitment to the principle of sovereignty, rejecting any notion that some nations should have more rights than others. “I subscribe to the idea of respecting the sovereignty of countries. That means the sovereignty of Rwanda must also be respected. There is no sovereignty of any country that is more important than the sovereignty of another. That’s the standard principle,” Kagame asserted. During the interview, Kagame also pointed out that the international community has failed to resolve the FDLR issue for three decades. “The same international community blaming Rwanda is the one that has left FDLR in Congo for 30 years. Two and a half decades and close to $40 billion later, what stability is there? Putting the blame on Rwanda is the easiest way of covering up the mess they have been involved with and caused in our region,” he said. Not too complex a situation Kagame dismissed claims that the situation in eastern Congo is too complex to resolve, asserting that even “the most unintelligent people” would have understood it after 30 years. He also questioned Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi’s approach, suggesting that external influences were pushing him toward conflict. “I don’t think anybody is interested in war. I don’t even think Tshisekedi is interested in war himself, but he has been encouraged in that direction by people showing up to fight his wars for him. If they were not doing that, maybe he would see reason in the truth and prioritize the efforts to have peace,” said Kagame. He also stated his priorities as a head of state as compared to his counterpart in DR Congo; “I am talking about protecting myself, aware of the dangers that are there. I am managing national affairs and situations to obtain peace, and Tshisekedi is talking about humiliation, which has to do with his ego. You can’t run a country and cause problems in the region just because of ego,” Kagame said. On Rwanda’s national security, Kagame reaffirmed that the country will always defend itself, drawing from historical lessons. “The most important thing for Rwanda is that we have to protect ourselves. In our minds, we understand that nobody is going to be there for us. We saw it in 1994. That has resulted in making investments in security, in defence, and the rest will speak for itself,” he concluded.