APA – Cotonou (Benin) – Rwandan President Paul Kagame in Cotonou, Benein over the weekend rejected accusations that he supports rebel activity in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
The March 23 Movement, active in eastern DRC, is accused of committing atrocities against civilians in the region.
Kagame reiterated his position in Cotonou on Saturday during a 72-hour state visit to Benin when asked about the issue during a joint press conference with his Beninese counterpart Patrice Talon.
He said Rwanda had nothing to do with the M23.
“The problem of the Congo, the problem of the region or even the problem of Rwanda is not the M23. M23 is the product of several other problems that have not been resolved for decades,” the Rwandan leader asserted as he defended himself.
He recalled that the M23 crisis dates back to 2012, before Felix Tshisekedi was elected president of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
For Kagame, the M23 issue is first and foremost about Congolese claiming Rwandan heritage. He explained that the borders drawn by colonisation divided the people, with one part of Rwanda given to the east of the DRC and the other to the south of Uganda.
“These problems are beyond me. They are beyond my person and beyond the person of President Tshisekedi,” he said.
Kagame stressed that despite the efforts of various mediators to resolve the crisis, the M23 problem has persisted for more than eleven years. The Rwandan president believes that if things are so difficult, it is because the countries involved do not really want the problem to be resolved.
“It is as if we ourselves do not want to solve the problem and we are beating around the bush,” Kagame said. The Rwandan leader said he hoped that with the involvement of countries in the region, the problem of the M23 rebellion would find a definitive solution.
A UN report published in December accused Rwanda of sending its military to fight alongside the M23 in eastern DRC. The document also revealed that Kigali had supplied the rebels with weapons, ammunition and uniforms. Rwanda has strongly rejected the report and denied any support for the March 23 Movement.
The rebellion, which had been dormant for a decade flared up in late 2021. The group says it took up arms against the discrimination allegedly meted out on Congolese Tutsis.
“Russia has the right to be everywhere on the continent”
Addressing the press while in Benin, Paul Kagame also spoke about the Russian presence in Africa. According to the Rwandan president, Africans should not even worry about the problems between the West and Russia.
“These superpowers have to deal with their problems among themselves, they continue to exploit us, they continue to take advantage of the small countries that we represent,” Kagame said.
However, he added that Russia has the right to be anywhere it wants in Africa.
He urged African countries to work together to define their needs, present them to the superpowers and see if they can help meet them.
“The Russian crisis, I don’t know how it will end, nobody knows. I think countries like Russia will find solutions to their problems, while we Africans, with my counterpart here, are trying to find solutions to our problems, the problems that really concern us,” Kagame concluded.
RK/ac/lb/as/APA