Rwanda President Paul Kagame, who is accused of fuelling conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, has said that his country will never apologise for defending its people.
Kagame made the remarks during an Extraordinary Mini-Summit on the security situation in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo held at African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The mini-summit hosted by Angola President João Lourenço aimed at addressing the root causes of the ongoing insecurity in eastern DRC, including bad governance, ethnic discrimination and violence.
President Lourenco, who was appointed a mediator by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the African Union (AU) for the de-escalation of the situation in the eastern DRC, hopes to obtain a ceasefire between the DRC and the M23 rebels as well as a possible direct dialogue between the Heads of State of Rwanda and DRC.
During the mini-summit, DR Congo President Tshisekedi demonstrated the involvement of Rwanda in the “maintenance of insecurity and the looting of wealth in the Eastern Congo”.
Kagame responds
According to the Rwanda Presidency Press secretary, Stephanie Nyombayire, during the Mini-Summit on the conflict in DR Congo, President Kagame “delivered clear messages”.
“Rwanda will never hesitate or apologise for protecting the security of its people. Nor will we seek permission to do so. We lost over one million people during the Genocide against the Tutsi. Nothing and no one will be allowed to take us back,” he stated.
Kagame claimed that the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) rebels had been “integrated” into the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC) and that this “must be addressed”.
“There is no use arguing with those who have repeated their lies long enough, they have come to believe them,” he said.
He added: “Rwanda remains committed to peace, through the established regional processes and mechanisms.”