President Paul Kagame and his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron early on Tuesday held bilateral talks and looked toward expanding future cooperation.
“The Heads of State also extensively discussed regional matters, among them Eastern DRC,” the Rwandan Presidency said via platform X.
The Rwandan Presidency added that the two leaders highlighted the need for a comprehensive political solution and noted the processes in place to help achieve a solution including the Luanda Process and the EAC’s Nairobi Process.
The meeting of the two leaders comes at a time when the security situation in Eastern DRC has deteriorated as fierce battles between Congolese troops and the M23 rebels escalate.
The M23 (March 23 Movement) is among over 200 armed rebel groups in the mineral-rich eastern DRC.
Kinshasa accuses Rwanda of supporting the M23 rebels who picked up arms to defend themselves against the government-aided attacks against Congolese ethnic Tutsi.
In response, Rwanda sees the country’s security at risk with the presence of the FDLR (Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda), an armed rebel largely composed of perpetrators of the 1994 genocide against Tutsi which claimed over a million lives.
President Paul Kagame said that a “red line was crossed” in the Congo crisis when Kinshasa enabled the FDLR to shell Rwandan territory killing innocent citizens and destroying property.
“The FDLR shelled Rwandan territory with BM-21s (self-propelled multiple rocket launchers), which they could only get from the (DRC) government,” Kagame said.
The Rwandan leader early in January stressed, “I don’t need permission from anybody to do what we have to do to protect ourselves. I have said it in broad daylight. I have said it to those who matter in this problem.”
Bertrand Bisimwa the leader of the M23 movement’s political wing, says Kinshasa has refused to listen to their demands including; amnesty for its fighters; the protection of Congolese Tutsis, issues of nationality and the return of refugees.
The rebels demand direct talks while the Kinshasa regime rejects this move and the parliament has designated the m23 movement as a terrorist organisation.
