President Paul Kagame has spoken out on the ongoing conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo saying that Rwanda’s desire for peace should not be questioned because a peaceful neighbour spells peace for Rwanda. The President was speaking at the swearing in ceremony of new Minister of Health Dr Sabin Nsanzimana and the Minister of State in the same ministry Dr. Yvan Butera, a ceremony that took place at parliament. He said that Rwanda does not have any desire for war because it has tasted it and knows how bad and costly it is, and therefore should not be the one baying for war. “This problem can easily be resolved if one country was not headed for the elections and was not trying to create an emergency for the next elections to be postponed. If this is the case, I would rather someone used other excuses,” Kagame said. DR Congo is headed for presidential elections next year and different analysts have said that the leadership in Kinshasa could be using the conflict in the eastern part of the country to ensure the elections do not take place for fear the incumbent would lose. Kagame was speaking about the conflict that has been ongoing in eastern part of DR Congo mainly between the rebel group M23 and the government forces which has seen series of efforts to bring to an end this problem falter. The Congolese have accused Rwanda of backing the rebel group, accusations that Rwanda has denied. Instead, reports indicate that in combatting M23, the Congolese forces are fighting alongside FDLR, a militia group formed by Rwandans who committed the Genocide against the Tutsi in 1994. The Congolese have not denied this claim, while the UN has also affirmed this. “We are not going to engage in skirmishes that could have been avoided; we are not going to engage in encroaching on anyone’s territorial integrity, but we so much demand that this happens in our case as well,” he said. According to the head of state, Rwandans along the border can go to bed at night knowing that they have security for them to sleep all night. “Short of that, we will make somebody else spend sleepless nights.”
