Congo responsible for 95% of its problems – Kagame

VILLAGE URUGWIRO - President Paul Kagame has told the visiting European Union Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, Louis Michel, that the Democratic Republic of Congo is responsible for 95 percent of its problems. Michel revealed this shortly after meeting with President Kagame at his office in Urugwiro Village. The EU Commisioner said that he was impressed by Kagame’s commitment in helping solve DRC’s problems. “I had a very interesting and fruitful meeting with President Kagame; it shows me the real commitment he has to helping solve the problem,” Michel said. He added that Kagame reminded him that what was happening in DR Congo was more of an internal problem and that the Congolese have to deliver in solving their internal problems. The EU Commissioner also said that he was also favourably impressed by the mood of goodwill shown to him in solving the DR Congo issue, adding that Kagame was very conscious of the need to finding a solution to the issue. Both Michel and Kagame agreed that the best way to solve the DR Congo problems was through dialogue. “We have to resolve the root causes of this problem but also tackle the real causes of the problem; on our part, what we can do to help, we will do it,” Michel said. He however called on Ban ki-Moon to re-call another Nairobi meeting which he proposed to be named the Nairobi II meeting. “Now there is a ceasefire, maybe it’s a good momentum; a proposal is that the United Nations Secretary General, convenes a Nairobi II meeting in order to bring all the people together who are directly or indirectly involved in the Congo crisis and those that can contribute positively to the resolving of the problem,” said Michel. The President’s former Special Envoy to the Great Lakes region, Amb. Richard Sezibera, also attended the meeting with the envoys and said that; “given what has been happening recently in the eastern DR Congo, the fights, the humanitarian crisis that seems to be developing, everybody is concerned, Rwanda is concerned, the international community is concerned.” Amb. Sezibera explained it was the reason for the intense diplomatic shuttles in Kigali, “so a number of envoys have been coming in to meet with the President to exchange views on what is happening on the ground and what can be done to solve the problem,” Sezibera said. He also emphasised that the causes of the DR Congo problems are known on the ground and that Kagame has told the visiting envoys that over 95 percent of the problem is internal to the DRC. “Certainly the Laurent Nkunda phenomena, the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) is totally an internal problem and the DRC has got to find a way of solving this problem,” he said. Sezibera also proposed the use of political dialogue in solving the DR Congo problem. He added that President Kagame’s discussions with the envoys centred mostly on the agreements that already exist on the ground, what can be done, how can the UN be more forceful in helping the DR Congo implement those agreements, and how the EU can be more helpful. Sezibera emphasised that Rwandan troops were not in DR Congo saying that; “there are no Rwandan troops in DR Congo but the allegations are there. We have mechanisms to address that, we have joint verification mechanisms between Rwanda and the DRC, they can be used to look into those issues.” Ends