The M23 question has been mismanaged for over a decade, since the group first launched a rebellion in 2012 in the eastern part of DR Congo, according to President Paul Kagame.
While addressing a joint press conference in Cotonou, Benin where he just concluded a two-day state visit, Kagame said that the fact that the Congolese rebel group resumed fighting last year, after a ten-year hiatus, means that the underlying problem was never properly resolved.
“The problem of M23 has been there before (Congolese President, Felix) Thsisekedi became president, there was a problem related to it in 2012. If you remember, go through history and you will see that. So, and having to do with M23 and people related to M23, these are Congolese but who have Rwandese heritage,” Kagame said.
He said that most of these challenges stem from the cutting the size of Rwanda’s original territory, where it lost significant parts of its territory to neighbouring countries like DR Congo, Uganda and Tanzania.
“A big part of our country has been left outside; in eastern DR Congo, in south western Uganda and so and so forth. We have populations in these parts of other countries with a Rwandese background, but they are not Rwandans they are citizens of those countries,” he said.
He was responding to a journalist who asked him if Rwanda was supporting M23 as alleged by leaders in the neighbouring country.
The major grievances that the rebel group, which is predominantly made up of Kinyarwanda-speaking Congolese, is the exclusion, discrimination and persecution they face in their country, where they are accused of being foreigners, owing to their ancestral roots in Rwanda.
“That’s the origin of the problem, and these people have been denied their rights within Congo and the problem I referred to of 2012 when they took up arms against their own government because of this problem,” he added.
The President added that, to call a problem of the eastern DR Congo region either M23’s problem or Rwanda’s problem is just running away from the issue and not wanting to find a solution.
He added that there are different regional mechanisms initiated to address the security problem in eastern DR Congo, which among others set a clear roadmap of how these can be addressed.
However, the Congolese leadership has not been forthcoming when it came to implementing them.
“So, you just keep complaining about the problem without having the facts clear that needs to be addressed. That is where we are. I hope with the region’s involvement; matters will be sorted out,” he added.
Both the Nairobi and Luanda processes which were initiated by regional leaders have set clear roadmap, including calling for the withdrawal of M23 rebels from captured territories to give peace talks a chance.
However, following the withdrawal of the group, the Congolese leadership insisted they would not hold talks with M23, which further complicates the situation.
Meanwhile, besides M23, there are over 120 other illegal armed groups operating in eastern DR Congo, including FDLR, a militia outfit founded by perpetrators of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.
Some of these militia groups, including FDLR, are now in an open coalition with the Congolese government forces, which further complicates the situation.
Cooperation with Benin
Meanwhile, President Kagame, who addressed the press conference with his Benin counterpart Patrice Talon, said that the appointment of some Rwandans in Benin’s institution is based on the warm relations between both countries.
He said that both countries have over the years been exchanging competencies in different areas, adding that Rwanda will also soon get experts from Benin to offer their expertise in the country.
“So, we have been lucky to have few of our people sharing with our brothers and our sisters here in Benin some of their skills and knowledge and yet we are waiting and are about to have people from Benin, our brothers and sisters who will be also extending their competences to us,” he said.
In February this year, Pascal Nyamurinda, the former Mayor of the City of Kigali was appointed to head Benin’s national ID agency.
Nyamurinda has also previously headed the Rwanda national ID body, NIDA.
During Kagame’s two-day visit, Rwanda and Benin signed nine bilateral agreements in different areas including taxation, agriculture, digital, local governance, sustainable development, military cooperation, commercial and industrial cooperation, tourism, and investment promotion.
Meanwhile, President Kagame is on Monday, April 17, expected in Guinea-Conakry for a state visit.
