President Paul Kagame has said that the recent report by the United Nations Group of Experts on DR Congo failed to detail the causes of insecurities in the country’s east, which is home to more than 130 local and foreign armed groups.
In an interview with the national broadcaster aired on Tuesday, July 4, Kagame said the report, which accuses Rwanda of supporting the M23 rebel group and causing insecurity in eastern DR Congo, is similar to previous reports that failed to address the real issues in the Great Lakes Region and suggest possible solutions.
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"There are just reports coming up, and when you look at it – and you’ve lived in this region and know what has happened and what is happening – sometimes you wonder what the exercise is all about,” he said.
"Is it really aimed at resolving problems? Do they present facts of the situation to help people to do the right thing to resolve the problems obtaining and move on to other things?” he wondered.
"Or are they just aimed at sanitizing the involvement, the names of many perpetrators and really keeping the status quo, so that in the end there is money flowing into the situation and out and people living off it, and countries using it to manage other countries?”
Speaking of thousands of Congolese refugees who have lived in Rwanda for decades and others that recently fled to the country due to persecution and hate speech in DR Congo, Kagame said, "these reports always fall short of addressing even the understanding of this problem, let alone providing possible solutions.”
The UN experts did not visit Rwanda to talk to people who fled from DR Congo.
"They’ve never done that. Why do you think any expert who’s supposed to be taken seriously, and therefore the report they write, would not have done that? It shows something, maybe akin to bias of some sort.”
He said the Group of Experts maintains a narrative that was set close to 30 years ago around the story of 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.
"They want the Genocide to be seen more in their own view than in reality of what happened here. That’s what I was referring to when I was talking of sanitisation of certain parties and their involvement.”
The other aspect, he noted, is that these reports create "complete distortions.” The President said the reports tend to obscure the threat caused by the genocidal militia, FDLR.
"In the report, there is highlighting of some aspects of problems here. They always say M23. And they are quiet, or they speak in whispers, when they talk about FDLR – and we are talking about over 120 armed groups in eastern Congo.
"They only highlight M23 and ADF. But FDLR, these genocidaires who have become part of the national army of [DR Congo] ... They assume these people don’t even exist and that it is not even a problem we should be talking about.”
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"I would have expected that a report like that clarifies who is who, what they are doing, and where they came from, or what their intentions are, without exception. And then guide us to possible actions that should be taken,” Kagame said.
Pacifying eastern DR Congo is not just about pacifying one country; it’s also pacifying the neighbouring countries, such as Uganda, Rwanda or Burundi, he noted.
The President said that Rwandans have to always be careful not to get lost into the mess and forget their priority, which is "to keep Rwanda, Rwandans, and those who live here wherever they come from, secure irrespective of the rumblings that go on around us.”