
Today, Paul Kagame, the President of Rwanda hosted a diplomatic luncheon for ambassadors and country representatives in Rwanda. As he addressed diplomats and other guests, President Kagame emphasized that Rwanda’s diplomatic community has expanded and that the expansion reflects the country’s vision towards global collaboration. He noted that 2024 marked the 30th anniversary of the Genocide against the Tutsi and that Rwanda held general and mostly presidential elections.
Moreover, President Kagame stressed that Rwanda’s partnership with international stakeholders has been important in its journey towards transformation. As a specific message to the “Western audience”, the President also insisted and underlined that universal values should apply to everyone irrespective of where he or she comes from. Kagame tanked Rwanda’s partners and countries that provided support during different waves of health crises, certainly referring to the Marburg virus disease. In his remark, one can read that the president was inclined to talk about the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and mostly rebuke comments from “powerful countries”.
Address Eastern DRC’s root causes as I Advise
Concerning regional tensions (11.42’), President Paul Kagame claimed that Rwanda is “disproportionately” blamed for what is happening in Eastern DRC. Kagame begged the attention of his audience by saying “let me talk about our region and I’m going to do that because Rwanda bears disproportionately a huge amount of burden relative to our responsibility in any wrongdoing”. In his speech, the President claimed that powerful people are pushing things as they wish and have no interest in listening to me. One can draw that, Kagame said the powerful people disregard my advice while I know a short and magical way to address the problem. For being powerful, they come and impose their paths to the detriment of Rwanda’s security and interests.
In this speech, Kagame referred to the persecution and the discrimination of “Kinyarwanda” speakers in DRC and the presence of FDLR (Forces Démocratiques pour la Libération du Rwanda) as the main drivers (root causes) of recurring waves of violence in Eastern DRC. He again underlined that the resurgence of M23 is linked to these drivers. According to the Rwandan narrative, Kinyarwanda speakers include Congolese Hutu and Tutsi (North Kivu) and the Banyamulenge (South Kivu).
President Kagame believes that the problem in eastern DRC is only explained by the drawing of colonial boundaries that created African countries. He insisted that genocide ideology was brought to Eastern DRC by FDLR. Both conceptions are largely untrue. The Tutsi in Rwanda were exterminated as Hutu militias believed they were not “real Rwandans”. There was no issue of boundaries as far as I can understand. Genocide ideology is embedded in misperceptions that some communities and social groups are not native. This is typically the “nationalist” ideology that drives genocidal attacks in Eastern DRC affecting members of the Banyamulenge, Congolese Tutsi, and the Hema in Ituri. Importantly, Kagame stressed that addressing the root causes of regional conflicts is highly essential for peace and stability.
Tshisekedi has never won elections
Broadly speaking, Kagame has restrained himself from constantly referring to Tshisekedi. He has retrained even when President Tshiskedi had engaged in extremely undiplomatic rhetoric. Last year, Kagame referred to the elections in DRC in a soft tone. The DRC’s Communication minister, Patrick Muyaya retorted that Rwanda can never give lessons to DRC when it comes to rigged elections. Since then, harsh debates were engaged by his minister of Foreign Affairs, Olivier Nduhungirehe. For the first time, Kagame stated publicly that Tshisekedi has never won elections. He engaged his audience mostly by challenging those promoting democratic principles and values that “they want democracy everywhere, they encourage elections [but] the person [Tshisekedi] who is causing problems in this situation I’m talking about between Rwanda and DRC has never twice been elected, and you know it”. You know it but you keep quiet because of your interests? I guess that is what President Kagame meant in his remark.
Harshly, Kagame used a metaphoric (explicit) language to compare his counterpart, Tshisekedi to an “idiot”. An “idiot” who sees himself as a leader. And Kagame warned that it is dangerous if an “idiot” becomes a “leader”. While this is undiplomatic and will widen the fracture between DRC and Rwanda, had I been an advisor to President Kagame, I would have advised him against it. The diplomat luncheon is possibly not an audience where leaders have to express their anger and settle accounts to such an extent. I believe this does not address the root causes of the conflict between DRC and Rwanda.
Ambassadors: Innocent and Reporters
In his speech, Kagame criticized the hypocrisy of the international community and powerful countries as they tend to blame him for shared responsibilities. At some point, he warned them that Rwanda would not accept the occurrence of the 1994 experience for the second time unless you wipe “us” or Rwanda out of the map. He underscored that Rwandans know what they encountered, and no one can stand to give them lessons.
The President suddenly remembered that this was not the appropriate audience to pour out his anger. “I know I’m talking to innocent people here all of us”. He continued that though “some of you who even represent the countries that cause us so much trouble, I’m sure you don’t want to claim too much”. As Ambassadors who do not have a say in your country’s stance, I hope that you’ve got this message, and I ask you to report it rightly. As if he would say, you are our friends, but I know that there are other powerful individuals in “capitals, there are people who don’t want this to happen” regardless of how honestly you will tell them. Let them know that “I can’t afford to behave the way you want me to behave in dealing with this problem [Eastern DRC]. I thought Ambassadors hardly accommodate being demeaned and reduced to the role of reporters. This is an opinion as I know that diplomacy and politics are softer to master.
Eastern Congo Tribune team.
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