SA, Rwanda to worktogether on DRC crisis
South Africa and Rwanda have agreed to work together to help bring peace to eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where renewed fighting has displaced hundreds of thousands of people.
During a press conference in Kigali yesterday, Rwanda President Paul Kagame said he had a “good discussion” and reached a “good understanding” with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on the sidelines of the 30th commemorations of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.
On his part, Ramaphosa, during his press briefing on Sunday, said South Africa’s role in eastern DRC is “inclusive” rather “exclusive”; hence, Pretoria will work with other countries and partners to end the violent clashes and ease the humanitarian nightmare in the area.
He said the situation in the DRC needs a political solution and the discussion with Kagame touched on that.
“I leave Rwanda with renewed vigour to find a political solution. People of DRC yearn for peace and people of Rwanda yearn for peace,” said the South African leader.
The meeting between the two leaders was closely watched following deteriorating relations between Kigali and Pretoria in recent years, worsened by South Africa’s role in eastern DRC, although other issues between the two countries have contributed to the chasm.
But on eastern DRC, Kigali is skeptical of the South Africa-led Southern Africa Development Community (Sadc) Mission in DRC. The Sadc troops include those from South Africa, Malawi and Tanzania.
Kigali views the mission as propping up the Kinshasa regime of Felix Tshisekedi who Rwanda accuses of fanning rebel groups such as the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, which wants to oust the Kagame government.
But DRC has in turn accused Rwanda of supporting M-23, the biggest armed threat to Kinshasa since 2022 when it resumed fighting after remaining dormant for at least a decade.
Rwanda has consistently denied being behind M-23, but at a press conference in Kigali yesterday, Kagame said “the question of whether Rwanda supports M-23 or not” is irrelevant, saying the issue that should be asked is why the group is fighting in the first place.
“M-23 is an organisation born out of the Congo. They are Congolese, but they are fighting because they have been denied their rights as Congolese, instead they are called Tutsis of Rwanda,” he said.
Rwanda’s top military leaders such as Brigadier General Patrick Karuretwa, who is in charge of
cooperation in the Ministry of Defence, echoed his President.
Briefing journalists in Kigali, he said the problem is that DRC has decided to use military interventions instead of finding political solutions.
M-23 was named after the March 23 2009 Agreement signed between the Government of DRC and the now-defunct National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP), which was never implemented.
Key causes of the ex-CNDP, which morphed into M-23, according to Brigadier General Karuretwa, remain the protection of the stigmatized and marginalized Congolese Tutsi communities
