Rwandans are not willing to kill themselves to satisfy you Mr. Secretary of State

President Paul Kagame had a phone call with US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken to discuss DR Congo’s continued slide into war, anarchy, and lawlessness. Following the call, which the Urugwiro Village Twitter handle called ‘productive’, the US State Department released a statement that I could only call naïve, unreasonable, and unworthy of the world’s ‘greatest’ superpower. While the Rwandan Presidency handle tweeted that President Kagame discussed the deterioration of the security situation in eastern DR Congo, “as well as the need for de-escalation of hostilities and a political resolution to the conflict”, Blinken’s office released a statement stating that the Secretary ‘advocated for a diplomatic solution to the tensions between the two countries and urged each side take measures to de-escalate the situation, including removing troops from the border”. Now, I don’t know whether Secretary Blinken understands what he’s asking of Rwanda so I will unpack it for him and the administration he serves. Asking Rwanda to remove its troops from the DR Congo border is akin to asking it to commit national harikari (ritual suicide). The evil forces that, less than 30 years ago, killed over a million people did not disappear into the ether. They, and their ideology of genocidal hate, are still alive and well in eastern DR Congo. And to make it even worse, these genocidal forces (now called FDLR) are not just actively armed and funded by President Felix Tshisekedi’s government. They are fully integrated into the FARDC, the DR Congo’s inept national army. They are not just part of the forces fighting at the front; they are part of the FARDC’s leadership structure in the country’s east. How do we know this? Firstly, because the UN Group of Experts, in their latest report on the goings-on in eastern DR Congo, documented collaboration between top FARDC commanders and FDLR. Secondly, because M23 rebels showed the media the FDLR fighters they captured while fighting the government coalition. But even if the FDLR militia weren’t working in tandem with the Congolese armed forces, their presence close to the Rwandan border would have remained an existential threat to Rwanda. Some people would have us, Rwandans, believe that the FDLR is a toothless force, made up of old ex-FAR fighters and young recruits. However, what we have experienced over the years isn’t a spent, harmless force. Less than four years ago, FDLR fighters attacked Kinigi, killing and injuring innocent people, destroying property, and putting at risk our vital mountain gorilla tourism. The reason that we haven’t had attacks at a similar scale since then isn't because the FDLR hasn’t wanted to cause more mayhem; it’s because Rwanda’s security services worked extremely diligently to not be caught out by a similar attack. However, despite the hard work of our forces, every so often, shells land on Rwandan soil. In addition to the FDLR forces, the FARDC has welcomed into their structures people they call ‘Wazalendo’. These Wazalendo – whom the Congolese administration calls ‘patriots’ – are a motley crew of drug-addled Mai-Mai and Nyatura fighters who want nothing more but to kill the Tutsi and pillage their victim’s belongings. To make matters worse, these ill-disciplined forces don’t only often demonstrate right at the Goma-Rubavu border crossing on a regular basis; they from time to time, shoot right into Rwanda. With such an array of negative forces, it makes sense for Rwanda to fortify its side of the border (which is what it has done). So, for the US Secretary of State to suggest that we weaken our presence on our border is asking us to leave ourselves open to attacks that would surely come. Think about it, even if FARDC commanders agreed to remove their troops to de-escalate, would the Wazalendo and the FDLR move away? Of course not. What Secretary Blinken showed was a disregard for Rwandan lives. Thankfully, Rwanda’s leadership has no such disregard. I’m sure that the Rwandan government is ready to play its part in bringing peace to our region. But expecting it to ask its citizens to pay the ultimate price is too much to ask. And Secretary Blinken shouldn’t have even dared to ask it to do so. The writer is a socio-political commentator

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Rwandans are not willing to kill themselves to satisfy you Mr. Secretary of State