By Ebi Kesiena
Rwandan President, Paul Kagame, has insisted that the recent report by the United Nations Group of Experts on DR Congo failed to detail the causes of insecurities in the country’s east, thereby failing to address the vital issue.
Kagame noted this in an interview with the national broadcaster on Tuesday.
According to the Rwandan President, the report which accuses Rwanda of supporting the M23 rebel group and causing insecurity in eastern DR Congo, is similar to previous reports that failed to address the real issues in the region and suggest possible solutions.
“There are just reports coming up, and when you look at it and you’ve lived in this region and know what has happened and what is happening sometimes you wonder what the exercise is all about.
“Is it really aimed at resolving problems? Do they present facts of the situation to help people to do the right thing to resolve the problems obtaining and move on to other things?
“Or are they just aimed at sanitizing the involvement, the names of many perpetrators and really keeping the status quo, so that in the end there is money flowing into the situation and out and people living off it, and countries using it to manage other countries?”
While addressing the issues of Congolese refugees who have lived in Rwanda for decades and others that recently fled to the country due to persecution and hate speech in DR Congo, Kagame noted that the reports fall short of addressing even the understanding of this problem, let alone providing possible solutions.
‘‘The UN experts did not visit Rwanda to talk to people who fled from DR Congo.
“They’ve never done that. Why do you think any expert who’s supposed to be taken seriously, and therefore the report they write, would not have done that? It shows something, maybe akin to bias of some sort.”
He said the Group of Experts maintains a narrative that was set close to 30 years ago around the story of 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.
‘‘Pacifying eastern DR Congo is not just about pacifying one country; it’s also pacifying the neighbouring countries, such as Uganda, Rwanda or Burundi, he said.
However, the President urged Rwandans to always be careful not to get lost into the mess and forget their priority, which is to keep Rwanda, Rwandans, and those who live in the country, wherever they come from, secured irrespective of the rumblings going on.
