Rwanda: International Community Messed Up Congo, Says Kagame
By Edwin Musoni & Sam Nkurunziza, 24 July 2012
President Paul Kagame yesterday lashed out at Western countries and
International organisations, saying they are the cause of the ongoing crisis
in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The Head of State was speaking at the inauguration of the Rwanda Defence
Force Command and Staff College at Nyakinama, Musaze District.
President Kagame gave a chronology of events that led up to the Congo
crisis, saying the two countries (Rwanda and DRC) had made tremendous
progress towards pacifying eastern DRC, which has been a haven of various
armed groups for the last 18 years.
One of the militias operating in the troubled region is the Democratic
Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a terrorist group mainly
composed of elements responsible for the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in
Rwanda.
"This problem has not been caused by Rwanda and it has not been abetted by
Rwanda. On the contrary, in the last four years, nobody in this region, on
this continent and beyond, has worked very hard to see peace coming to our
country and our neighbouring country than Rwanda," he said.
Kagame pointed out that as the two countries were close to restoring peace,
when the international community intervened and "twisted everything leaving
the two countries in extreme misunderstandings and putting all the blame on
Rwanda".
"...Actually the problem of DRC came from outside....it was created by the
international community - our partners - because they don't listen, they are
so arrogant to listen and in the end they don't actually provide a solution
they just keep creating problems for us. We know better our problems, we
know better about this region's problems," the President added.
Over the last few years, officials from both sides of the border have met on
several occasions, to come up with ways of eliminating armed groups in
Eastern DRC.
In 2009, Rwandan and Congolese armies mounted joint operations which
weakened armed groups, especially the FDLR. The Umoja Wetu Operation came
just months after Rwanda had helped put down a rebellion in eastern DRC by
brokering a deal between Kinshasa and CNDP rebels, and arresting the rebels'
leader Gen. Laurent Nkunda.
"We are genuine about trying to find a solution for this problem, but they
(international Community) come and run over everything and when things
explode they will come around and blame us for it, even when they are the
ones who cause the problems," Kagame said.
He added that during last year's presidential elections in the Congo, Rwanda
tried to play a positive role with the Kinshasa government, and after that,
the two countries kept working together to deal with the problems in the
east.
"We worked with them to deal with the challenges they had within their own
country and then some people were not happy about that. They came up with
the idea of arresting some people in the Congo for justice and
accountability - which is good if only it was not selective.
He explained that Rwanda's response was that it did not see how it must get
involved with arresting Congolese soldiers, maintaining that was for the DRC
government to decide.
"We asked them that 'how does that become our problem, why don't you go and
arrest him?" Kagame said in reference to Gen. Bosco Ntaganda, who was then a
serving Congolese army officer but indicted by the ICC for crimes he
allegedly committed 10 years ago.
Ntaganda was the leader of the CNDP rebels who had been integrated in the
Congo army under the March 23, 2009 agreement.
"They insisted that we must have to help, and the pressure turned from Congo
to us...this was before this conflict, and this kept going on and on. We
appealed to them, we advised them that they were going to mess up the
progress that has been made but they couldn't listen," said President
Kagame.
"After that, members of the international community developed an idea that
if Rwanda can't support them to arrest someone in another country, then they
would put us together with those they want to arrest, and this is really how
it turned out to be. I am not dramatising anything here, I am telling the
real story."
Kagame added that, after the latest crisis broke out in DRC (in April), he
telephoned his Congolese counterpart Joseph Kabila and discussed the matter.
"I asked him (Kabila) if he was aware of what was going on, if he had a hand
in it, and if he wasn't creating problems for himself, and he said no and
that he had been approached (by the international community) and added that
'my approach is different, I want to arrest some people for indiscipline but
not handing them over to ICC'," explained President Kagame, who said that he
and President Kabila had all along kept talking over the developments in
eastern DRC to help find a lasting solution.
Kagame said he had agreed with Kabila that officials from both countries
meet and come up with the most appropriate way of dealing with the unfolding
tension within the DRC. A meeting was later convened in the Rwandan border
town of Rubavu.
"On the request of the Government of the DRC, Congolese officials called in
the representatives of the (M23) rebels, one of them being the current
leader of the rebellion.
The group explained their grievances and the officials of the Government of
Congo were taking note of the problems that were being raised and saying
that they were aware of the problems that were being mentioned; they said
they would address the problems when they go back to Kinshasa," explained
Kagame.
However, the Congolese officials went back to Kinshasa and did the contrary,
the President pointed out.
"Then the International Community was saying that Rwanda is helping rebels,
but helping them with what, and for what reason?
They say we supply them with ammunition, but these people get guns from the
Congolese army. The ammunition they have is from their Congolese armouries.
"We are not supplying even one bullet, we have not and we will not. If we
had supplied them, by the way, I would be telling you that we have done so
because we would have done it for a reason; but we have not even had a
reason to have this conflict going on. On the contrary, we tried to prevent
it and we advised both Congo and the international community," said Kagame.
The Head of State added that for some reasons, the west is able to put the
mess they have caused on some other people's shoulders, adding "maybe that's
why they never listen".
This week, members of the UN Panel of Experts on the Congo, who released the
controversial preliminary report in whose addendum they accused Rwanda of
supporting the DRC, are expected in the country to hear Rwanda's side of the
story.
"If the world has these kinds of experts on whose account of their report
people are going to be penalised and abused, then please if you can't
prevent that, then you need to know how to constantly challenge it," said
the President.
The US government, over the weekend, released a statement saying they are
holding a $200,000 pledge to support a Rwandan Military academy.
**********************************************
Rwanda: U.S. Aid Cut 'Based On Misinformation'
By Edwin Musoni, 23 July 2012
Following the decision by the United States to cut military aid to Rwanda on
grounds that the latter allegedly supports rebel mutinies in the Democratic
Republic of Congo, Foreign Affairs Minister Louise Mushikiwabo, has said the
donor is free to dispense or withhold support, but that the premise is
ill-informed.
The U.S. government, Saturday, said it has cut this year's planned military
assistance to Rwanda amid concerns that the government in Kigali is
supporting rebel movements in neighbouring Congo.
The aid cut by the US is equivalent to US$200,000 which was part of
initially pledged military aid for a training academy. The State Department
said they would relocate the amount to another country.
"While we respect the rights of any development partner, at the same time we
must make it clear to our friends in Washington and elsewhere that this
decision is based on bad information, and is wrong on the facts. As we have
made clear from the outset, Rwanda is neither the cause nor the enabler of
instability in the eastern DRC," Mushikiwabo said.
A report by a Group of UN Experts say there is evidence Rwanda is backing
the M23 mutineers but Kigali has refuted the allegations.
Minister Mushikiwabo, who also doubles as the government spokesperson,
pointed out that Rwandan officials are meeting with the UN Group of Experts
in Kigali next week to discuss the Group's interim findings on the current
eastern DRC conflict as outlined in a recent report to the UN Security
Council.
Rwanda has previously stated that a "media frenzy" had forced the UN's
decision to publish the report - without allowing Kigali an opportunity to
respond systematically to the allegations, which implicate Rwanda's senior
defence and military officers.
"We will go through each allegation contained in the interim report (Of the
UN Group of Experts) and debunk them line by line. We will present our
rebuttal to our development partners, including the United States, said
Mushikiwabo.
"In the meantime, we will focus on the Joint Verification Mechanism with the
DRC and will work with regional partners to implement a new border patrol
initiative. Peace in the eastern DRC is the outcome desired by all parties,
none more so than Rwanda," she added.
In blocking their aid to Rwanda, the U.S. State Department cited evidence of
Rwandan support for the rebels.
"The United States government is deeply concerned about the evidence that
Rwanda is implicated in the provision of support to Congolese rebel groups,
including M23," said Hilary Fuller Renner, a State Department spokeswoman,
in a statement.
"We will not obligate $200,000 in Fiscal Year 2012 Foreign Military
Financing funds that were intended to support a Rwandan academy for
non-commissioned officers. These funds will be reallocated for programming
in another country," she said.
She, however, added that the United States would continue to help Rwanda
support peacekeeping missions. Rwanda has a major peacekeeping presence in
Sudan's Darfur region.
Washington's move comes a week after President Paul Kagame and his Congolese
Counterpart, Joseph Kabila met on the sidelines of the 19th African Union
Summit and agreed in principle to back a neutral international armed force
to combat Congo's newest rebellion and other fighters like the FDLR
terrorising civilians in the DRC, and the African Union said it could help
by sending soldiers. Details, however, have remained sketchy.
Congo already has the world's largest peacekeeping force of nearly 20,000
U.N. soldiers and police that cost nearly $1.5 billion in 2011 - the heavily
equipped and financed force has been accused of failing to execute its
mandate.
Congolese troops have tried for years, with little success, to subdue rebel
groups in the volatile eastern provinces.
The east DRC's conflict is a hangover from the 1994 Genocide against the
Tutsi in Rwanda that claimed over a million lives. Most of those who
participated in the Genocide escaped into Congo and still fight there
todate.
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Received on Tue Jul 24 2012 - 17:05:46 EDT
