Rwanda ‘ready to fight’ with DR Congo if necessary, says President Paul Kagame

Published on: 06/20/2024 – 5:28 p.m.

In an exclusive interview with FRANCE 24, Rwandan President Paul Kagame said his country was “ready” to go to war with its neighbor DR Congo. “We are ready to fight,” he said. “We are not afraid of anything.”

In response to recent accusations from his Congolese counterpart Félix Tshisekedi that Rwanda is organizing “a genocide” in eastern DR Congo, Kagame instead accuses Tshisekedi of orchestrating the return of an “ideology of genocide” in the eastern DR Congo targeting Congolese Tutsis. .

“What is really happening in eastern Congo should be understood even by the one who runs that country. He seems to have a selective memory of what to call what is happening there,” Kagame said. “To ignore that and want to call it something else, somewhere else by someone, I think you have to be missing something in your mind.”

Learn moreThe Rwandan president denounces the “failure” of the international community, 30 years after the genocide

Kagame has refused to confirm the presence of Rwandan soldiers on Congolese soil, while Western countries are increasingly making this accusation openly. “Why aren’t we looking at the root cause of this problem? » he asked, referring to the presence of M23 rebels in eastern DR Congo.

Finally, the Rwandan president, candidate for re-election for a fourth term, denied that the presidential vote scheduled for July 15 was rigged and played out in advance.

He also reacted for the first time to accusations by a media consortium that he is waging a campaign of repression and assassinations against his opponents in Rwanda and abroad.