President Paul Kagame arrived Wednesday in Luanda where he is meeting with his DR Congo counterpart Félix-Antoine Tshisekedi and host president, João Lourenço. The leaders are expected to discuss the current crisis in DR Congo and the tension between Kinshasa and Kigali. “President Kagame has arrived in Luanda, Angola where he will meet with DRC President Felix Tshisekedi, and Angolan President João Lourenço, who is also the Chair of the ICGLR,” his office confirmed on Twitter. It added, “The meeting will discuss the security situation in eastern DRC.” The ICGLR stands for International Conference on the Great Lakes Region, of which both Rwanda and DR Congo are members. President Kagame has arrived in Luanda, Angola where he will meet with DRC President Felix Tshisekedi, and Angolan President João Lourenço, who is also the Chair of the ICGLR. The meeting will discuss the security situation in eastern DRC. — Presidency | Rwanda (@UrugwiroVillage) July 6, 2022 During his televised interview on Monday, July 4, President Kagame spoke at length about issues in the DR Congo, including DR Congo’s allegations that Rwanda supports M23 rebels. Kagame insisted that concerns of Kinyarwanda-speaking Congolese and those of M23 rebels can only be addressed through a political process, and not by force of arms. Rwanda has denied claims that it supports the M23 rebels and instead accused the DR Congo government of embedding the genocidal FDLR militia into its army, and supporting it to destabilise Rwanda. It has accused the FARDC-FDLR coalition of shelling the Rwandan territory thrice this year, and abducting two Rwandan soldiers patrolling the border. The soldiers were later released by Kinshasa following Luanda’s intervention. In May, the Chairperson of the Africa Union, President Macky Sall of Senegal, held a phone conversation with presidents Kagame and Tshisekedi to try to resolve the bilateral spat, which saw DR Congo suspend RwandAir’s flights to the country. Sall said he had asked ICGLR chair Lourenço to help mediate between the two neighbours. A parallel effort to find a solution to DR Congo’s crisis is being led by Kenya President Uhuru Kenyatta in his capacity as Chairperson of the East African Community, of which Rwanda and DR Congo are both members.
