President Paul Kagame has insisted that the M23 rebel group is not from Rwanda as widely claimed.
Speaking during Tuesday's East African Community (EAC) Heads of State summit, Kagame stated that they are from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and that President Felix Tshisekedi himself has previously admitted to this.
He urged the leaders not to allow themselves to be manipulated.
“M23 are not Rwandans, these are Congolese and one time he accepts it and then another he says no, part of it is from Rwanda. How do we leaders of our own countries accept this to continue?” Kagame posed.
He faulted the EAC Presidents for keeping quiet when The East African Community Regional Force (EACRF) was expelled from Eastern DRC by President Tshisekedi whom it was helping.
Kagame added that even the two peace processes that had been initiated before to negotiate solutions to the conflict were flawed because the people leading them became more important than the intended outcomes.
He urged the leaders to be objective and to focus on achieving the region’s common interests as opposed to individual interests.
He insisted that pursuing personal interests would not help deal with the serious situation at hand.
“Then you have the whole international community confused you talked about Rwanda, talked about the Nairobi process. The processes became an end in themselves and the people leading these processes became more important than the results of the processes. The Nairobi process became the Uhuru Kenyatta process and the Rwanda process is like you can’t say anything that does not please President Joao Lorenco," Kagame said.
“Your Excellencies, I want us that for whatever we are saying and whatever we intend to do we capture the context rightly and then proceed based on that, and maybe we can get somewhere. Otherwise, if we keep saying good things to each other, being nice, and then each one fulfilling their interests other than the common interests we have as East Africans, then I don’t see how we are going to contribute effectively to finding a solution."
In the meeting, the EAC Heads of States called for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in Eastern DRC.
They also urged the DRC government to engage the M23 and all rebel groups in the country and reach a peaceful resolution.
