Rwanda’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Claver Gatete, has emphasized the need to address root causes of security conflicts in the eastern DR Congo instead of continuing to highlight the symptoms.

He was speaking during the UN Security Council (UNSC) briefing of the UN Group of Experts (UNGoE) mid-term report on the security situation in DR Congo on February 16.

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"The report we are considering today only highlights the symptoms. The sustained collaboration between the Congolese army, FARDC, and armed groups in eastern DR Congo is at the heart of the insecurity affecting our region,” he said.

Double standards and blaming Rwanda for problems that should otherwise be easily solved by those responsible will only perpetuate the problems, he added.

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The UNGoE report says DR Congo armed forces FARDC have been cooperating with armed groups, such as the FDLR, in the war against the M23 rebels, in Kivu region.

Besides aligning itself with FDLR – a Rwandan genocidal militia formed by remnants of the perpetrators of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi –Kinshasa also continued to alienate the M23 rebels, thereby reducing the prospects for peace.

Rwanda has long accused the FARDC of cooperating with the terrorist group FDLR, whose members are suspects of genocide crimes in Rwanda.

On several occasions, the Congolese government has proved reluctant to act according to the regionally agreed Nairobi peace process and the Luanda process that demanded that DR Congo disarm all armed groups and engage in dialogue toward a sustainable solution.

"Apart from the DR Congo government protection, the strength of FDLR comes from the fact that it is located in a natural resource-rich area. This enables it to amass wealth by illegally exploiting and transporting resources such as gold, timber, poaching and taxing the local population in areas it controls,” Gatete told the UNSC.

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The 2022 Pole Institute report revealed that FDLR controls 95 per cent of the charcoal trade in Goma and generates more than $45 million annually. This is contrary to claims by Congolese leaders that FDLR is no longer a threat to reckon with.

The Luanda communiqué, among others, calls for continued full deployment of the EAC Regional Force, however, it was faced with protests organized by Congolese leaders and civil society to sour their relationship with the local communities.

Massacring the Tutsi

Hate speech against Kinyarwanda-speaking Congolese and Rwanda has escalated by several folds in the recent months leading to brutal assassination of several Congolese Tutsis.

Several top government officials in the DR Congo have been named among those fuelling hate speech.

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Gatete told the UNSC that dehumanising language, distortions about the true origins of Congolese-Kinyarwanda speakers, and calling for extermination are reminiscent of the hateful rhetoric that characterized Rwanda’s genocidal regime in 1994 imported to DR Congo by FDLR.

"It’s now time for the international community to recognise the plight of the Congolese Tutsi and take decisive action to hold accountable all those responsible to save millions of lives currently at stake in Congo. The international community’s silence means a direct endorsement of atrocity crimes against these people.”

Territorial aggression

Gatete said that despite DR Congo’s continuous attempts to provoke Rwanda into being a party to the conflict, the Kigali government has made it clear that it has no interest in perpetuating a conflict on its borders.

"However, Rwanda’s territorial integrity is not being respected by the DRC, which has been demonstrated by multiple violations of our airspace and spill over effects of the conflict onto our borders, " he said.

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These violations and attacks, in some instances fatal, were committed by FARDC and FDLR coalition, most notably, three cases of Airspace violations since 2022 in November and four instances of cross-border shelling and attacks.

Additionally, on February 15, FARDC soldiers entered the no man’s land between DR Congo and Rwanda at Rusizi-Bukavu border and opened fire at Rwanda’s border post, to which Rwandan security forces responded.

"This is the latest example of DRC’s never-ending provocations.”

Congolese refugees

Persecution and a consistent threat to the lives of Kinyarwanda speaking Congolese have forced close to 80,000 to seek refuge in Rwanda since 1996.

Since November 2022, Rwanda has been receiving over 100 Congolese refugees every day on average, Gatete told the council.

"Yet, DRC shows no political will to repatriate their citizens nor the imperative to create conditions for their safe return. Don’t these people deserve a safe and dignified life? Any Government that fails to protect and accept its citizens should expect internal dissent of some kind.”

Gatete thanked the detailed Group of Experts report, however, expressed disappointment that none of Rwanda’s inputs through their research and interviews have never been considered in either midterm or final reports.