The conflict in eastern DR Congo was not started by Rwanda, “and we will not accept to bear the burden of” the DR Congo’s governance and security failures, foreign minister Amb Olivier Nduhungirehe pointed out, on Monday, March 10, when meeting Kaja Kallas, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. ALSO READ: Amb Nduhungirehe: World powers refused to listen to Rwanda on genocidal militia threat The minister and his delegation met Kallas who is also the Vice-President of the European Commission - the primary executive arm of the European Union, in Brussels, Belgium. Today I met the European Union HRVP @Kajakallas in Brussels. I pointed out that the ongoing conflict in the DRC was not started by Rwanda, and we will not accept to bear the burden of the DRC’s governance and security failures. Rwanda’s national security concerns have long... pic.twitter.com/dpaG5c9YRF — Olivier J.P. Nduhungirehe (@onduhungirehe) March 10, 2025 In a post, on X, Nduhungirehe reiterated that “Rwanda’s national security concerns have long been ignored or dismissed, despite the existential threat” from the DR Congo-based or supported “FDLR genocidal militia and hostile military forces allied with the Congolese army that were active in our border area.” ALSO READ: Former Belgian senator tours Goma, challenges Western version of events The war between the Congolese government army coalition that includes FDLR, a DR Congo-based terrorist militia founded by remnants of the masterminds of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, over 10,000 Burundian troops, 1,600 European mercenaries, South Africa-led SADC forces, as well as UN peacekeepers, against M23 rebels started in 2021. M23 is now part of a larger – and bourgeoning – rebel coalition, Alliance fleuve Congo (AFC), created in December 2023. ALSO READ: M23 are no terrorists, the Congolese army is – say Bukavu residents Since January, the rebels advanced across North and South Kivu provinces, liberating swathes of territory, after repulsing the vast Congolese army coalition. Following heavy fighting triggered by constant violations by the Congolese army coalition, of an earlier set ceasefire, on January 27, the rebels captured Goma, the capital of North Kivu Province, and restore order there. As the security situation in South Kivu deteriorated amid reports of violence, looting, and abuses propagated by the Congolese army coalition, the rebels moved again. They first captured the strategic airport of Kavumu, before moving south to capture the regional capital, Bukavu, on February 15. The Congolese government claims that Rwanda is supporting M23 rebels, an accusation which Kigali has dismissed. Despite their Rwandese heritage or culture, majority of the rebels were initially people from the Kinyarwanda-speaking Congolese community which has been oppressed by its own government for decades. What you see here is just a glimpse of the suffering that the people of Eastern DRC have endured for over 30 years. Our organization, Alliance Fleuve Congo (AFC/M23), continually reminds the world of the barbarism perpetrated by the coalition forces of the Kinshasa regime, acting... https://t.co/9MOU6m3U2U — Bertrand Bisimwa (@bbisimwa) March 10, 2025 Successive Congolese governments sought to expel them, branding them as Rwandans, and subjecting them to discrimination and targeted ethnic violence, a major factor behind the emergence of their rebel movement. ALSO READ: Why genocide ideology doesn’t dissolve three decades after dispersion of genocidaires ALSO READ: Envoy reiterates Security Council’s need to take Rwanda’s concerns seriously In Brussels, Nduhungirehe stressed that the unhelpful misreading of the eastern DR Congo crisis and the one-sided measures against Rwanda will not lead to a solution. The unhelpful misreading of the eastern DR Congo crisis and the one-sided measures against Rwanda, he reiterated, “only serve to embolden” the Congolese government “in its choice to prolong the conflict, and undermine the African-led mediation process, to which Rwanda is fully committed.” ALSO READ: How Tshisekedi scuttled FDLR neutralisation plan at last minute Kigali’s position as regards the conflict has always been that, first, there is a cessation of hostilities throughout the territories in eastern DR Congo and then that there is a resumption of political processes, mainly a dialogue between the AFC/M23 and the Congolese government to settle issues once and for all by tackling the root causes. ALSO READ: DR Congo must cut ties with FDLR, abandon plan to attack Rwanda – RPF leader After the meeting, Kallas had advanced the Congolese government’s allegation that Kigali supports the AFC/M23 rebellion, noting that she “reaffirmed that M23/Rwanda must respect” DR Congo territorial integrity, stop advances and withdraw from occupied territory. Met with @RwandaMFA @onduhungirehe this morning. I reaffirmed that M23/Rwanda must respect DRC territorial integrity, stop advances and withdraw from occupied territory. Rwanda and DRC must come back to the negotiation table, within regional ongoing peace processes pic.twitter.com/TZG24tEoR1 — Kaja Kallas (@kajakallas) March 10, 2025 Kallas’ post, on X, was countered by Amb. Peter Fahrenholtz, the former German envoy in countries including Rwanda, Bangladesh, Eritrea, and Guinea, who asked: “Are M23 not DRC citizens? Were there not European mercenaries fighting against them in DRC? Who will protect ethnic minorities in eastern DRC?” Are M23 not DRC citizens? Were there not European mercenaries fighting against them in DRC? Who will protect ethnic minorities in eastern DRC? https://t.co/OufuwkqNzz — Peter Fahrenholtz, Ambassador rtd (@peterfahren) March 10, 2025 David Toovey, a communications specialist, added: “M23 are Congolese fighting for their right to exist and freedom from extermination on their homelands, Congolese territory.” ALSO READ: M23 are no terrorists, the Congolese army is – say Bukavu residents Toovey, among others, emphasised that Rwanda has never left the negotiating table, and it is the Congolese government which refuses to show up to regional summits or negotiate a political solution with M23, “preferring instead to use Rwanda as a scapegoat and undermine regional peace processes.” 1. M23 are Congolese fighting for their right to exist and freedom from extermination on their homelands, Congolese territory. 2. Rwanda has never left the negotiating table. It is the DRC who refuses to show up to regional summits or negotiate a political solution with M23,... https://t.co/DFtmkOxzmc — David Toovey (@DavidToovey) March 10, 2025 The world's super powers refuse to listen when Kigali talks about the direct threat FDLR poses to Rwanda's security arguing that the genocidal militia’s combatants are just a bunch of old and weak people, and that Rwanda is using them as a pretext to invade Congo for minerals, Nduhungirehe reiterated on March 1. That was a few moments after FDLR’s Brig Gen Ezechiel Gakwerere was repatriated from eastern DR Congo alongside 14 others captured by AFC/M23 rebels in the war with the Congolese government coalition which includes Burundian forces, troops from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and local militias known as Wazalendo. Gakwerere is believed to have taken part in the murder of Rwanda’s last queen, Rosalie Gicanda, during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. #DRC #Rubaya #M23 Are #M23 and Rwanda 'plundering #coltan' in Rubaya? A report. My main findings: - There are NO #M23 soldiers near the mines. - #M23 does not participate in any aspect of the coltan mining business. - There is NO Rwandan presence in Rubaya. - Rubaya... pic.twitter.com/fpTGEZsmyI — Bojana Coulibaly, Ph.D. (@CoulibalyBojana) March 7, 2025 Genesis of conflict When the Rwanda Patriotic Army defeated the genocidal regime and stopped the Genocide against the Tutsi, in July 1994, the ousted regime’s army (ex-FAR), politicians, and Interahamwe militia that had committed Genocide – runaway, en masse, with their weapons, to eastern DR Congo, then known as Zaire. The remnants of the ousted genocidal regime’s army and militia later banded together into what they called the Army for the Liberation of Rwanda (ALIR). In 2000, soon after the US government listed it as a terrorist organization following its murder of American tourists in Uganda’s Bwindi Forest, they formed FDLR to evade or distance themselves from their horrendous crimes. On May 1, 2000, its initiators gathered in a large hall in Lubumbashi, DR Congo’s second-largest city in the southeasternmost part, along the border with Zambia, and formed the militia. The genocidal militia’s plan is to return to Rwanda, forcefully, and continue its genocidal agenda. Besides the genocidal militia’s threat to security in the region, the international community remains silent in the face of hate speech and targeted killings of Kinyarwanda-speaking communities in DR Congo, whose government is implicated in the atrocities. ALSO READ: Drones, MONUSCO intelligence used in Minembwe, Uvira civilian massacres, warns M23 During the 58th Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland, on February 26, Nduhungirehe talked about how Congolese government forces were carrying out attacks on Banyamulenge communities in South Kivu province, with impunity. He said hate speech and targeted violence against Congolese Tutsi communities “have become distressingly commonplace.” On Monday, Bertrand Bisimwa, the AFC/M23 rebellion’s deputy coordinator, once again denounced the Congolese government’s endless targeting and killing of unarmed Banyamulenge civilians in Minembwe, Uvira, and surrounding areas in South Kivu Province. This Monday morning, March 10, 2025, drones were flying over Minembwe, capturing images of targets. The population was already worried. But the worst had not yet happened. Twelve minutes ago, Sukhoi fighter jets bombed villages in Minembwe, where, I must remind you, there is... — Bertrand Bisimwa (@bbisimwa) March 10, 2025 This came a week after he warned that villages inhabited by unarmed Banyamulenge civilians were targeted and destroyed by the drones, Sukhoi fighter jets, and mortars of the Congolese army coalition in South Kivu Province. In a March 4 post on X, Bisimwa said the Kinshasa regime is carrying out attacks against peaceful populations, with impunity, in attacks carried out by the Congolese army coalition that includes Burundian armed forces, Rwandan genocidal militias known as FDLR, and Congolese militias called Wazalendo, from Uvira and those who fled Bukavu.
