Why Rwanda should cut contacts with DRC

Editor,I wish to respond to yesterday’s lead story, “Kabarebe, Kayonga head to Goma as tensions mount.”I understand Rwanda’s fundamental security interest in continuing to engage the government of DRC and even go that extra mile for attaining peace in the region. And I am proud that the government has played its part in the open; it has tried to engage Kinshasa only to be betrayed in the process.But what is the point of such endless efforts in the absence of a reliable partner on the other side of the border? We have done everything to help the Congolese government attain peace.Yet instead, we have become a scapegoat for Kinshasa’s inability to unite Congolese.I do not have any better approach to suggest. But it may be emotionally satisfying to say we should have nothing more to do with the DRC mess.I’m sure many other fellow Rwandans have the same feeling – many must be sick and tired of this geographical space on our western borders.I think the government of DRC is lucky to have an understanding neighbour –in the name of Rwanda.Mwene KalindaKigali Editor, I think it is high time Rwanda washed her hands off the DRC mess, and simply seal her borders against terrorist infiltration from the likes of the FDLR. Personally, I think DRC is an ungrateful neighbour. Trying to do business with an unreliable neighbour is not productive. Yet Rwanda has, over the last 18 years, managed to make many genuine friends both on the African continent and beyond. The national economy is doing well and investors are coming in. Of course, in case of an attack by the FDLR terrorists, Rwanda reserves the right to defend its territorial intergrity. I want to think that the current policy of engaging Kinshasa, in the absence honesty and openness on the part of the Congolese government, will only be a waste of time. Dan Bahizi Gisenyi

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Why Rwanda should cut contacts with DRC