President Paul Kagame has proved to his Burundian counterpart that Rwanda is no match and does not play around on matters that threaten its security.
Before the strategic city of Uvira fell to the hands of AFC/M23 , President Kagame has revealed that he had been speaking to Burundi’s Gen. Ndayishimiye asking him what Burundi troops were doing far away into North Kivu province of DRC.
“I called the President of Burundi, Ndayishimiye, and asked him, The EAC forces in the DRC were expelled, Burundi remained, and now SADC forces are deploying — has Burundi joined SADC? He said no,” President Kagame revealed.
“I then asked whether Burundi stayed in DRCongo because of its friendship with Kinshasa and a desire to support whatever Congo was doing. He replied that DRCongo had requested their presence because they are friends. I asked again: But more and more of your troops are moving north. Yet he had told me earlier that Burundi’s security problems originating from Congo were in the south — in Uvira and Minembwe — and that this was why they entered Congo.”
“So I asked; If Minembwe and Uvira are in the south, what are you doing in the north, in Goma and Rutshuru? He responded, “Who told you we have troops there?”
“I told him I had been informed by people who showed me evidence, but that I wanted to hear directly from him before taking it as fact,” Kagame noted.
He said, “They lied to you; we have no troops in the north.” I replied that since he, as head of state, was telling me this, I would accept it,” President Kagame narrated.
Meanwhile, Kagame said, “Not long after, many of their soldiers were captured in combat. This led to meetings between our two countries. Burundi tried to deny it, and we asked: Are you denying your own soldiers, captured exactly where you said you had none?”
“It became an endless back-and-forth. Even today, all of this was happening before we signed the agreement and continued afterward. What happened in Uvira revealed thousands of Burundian soldiers operating in Uvira, Minembwe, Kalemie, Kindu, and others who had moved to Walikale and Kisangani — more than twenty thousand in total,” The Rwandan leader explained.
“You have to ask: how did such a large Burundian force enter DRCongo? Clearly there is a serious problem. They spend their days shelling people in Minembwe with artillery and drones. And those in the international community who talk endlessly — where are they?
“People have cried out for help, and no one has intervened. Then recently, after the fighting in Uvira, an international outcry suddenly emerged claiming, “It is Rwanda.” So now Rwanda is expected to bear responsibility for all the problems unfolding inside Congo,” Said President Kagame.
