Johnston Busingye, Rwanda High Commissioner in UK
Following the Summon by the FCDO (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office), the Rwandan High Commission wishes to share the following response:
• The Rwanda Defence Forces has always maintained defensive measures in response to genuine security threats along our border. These threats recently materialized with the January 26 attacks against the Rubavu border town after the fall of Goma, resulting in 16 deaths and 177 civilian casualties in Rwanda.
• Rwanda continues to face an existential security threat from the DRC-backed FDR genocidal militia, which was involved in the shelling of in Rwandan territory in June 2022, just two weeks before the CHOGM in Kigali. The FDLR has carried out at least 20 attacks on Rwandan territory and is now embedded within the Congolese army, as a strategic ally.
• Rwanda is a proud contributing country to UN peacekeeping, with a proven record of compliance with every standard including respect to other missions. However, when MONUSCO becomes entangled with the DRC coalition which includes and involves the genocidal FDLR it becomes difficult for everyone to draw clear boundaries.
• The M23 are Congolese struggling against one of the most violent forms of ethnic extremism meted out to them by their own government over decades on the watch on the International Community including the UK. This ethnic extremism now assumes regional proportions and it is imperative that it is rooted out for sustainable peace and development of our region to be realized.
• The UK should align with and support the AU-backed EAC/SADC peace process and avoid emboldening the DRC’s position to seek a military only solution.
Moreover, there are critical points that must be pointed out:
Contrary to populist rhetoric FDLR isn’t an outdated group with aging members. While it is true that the FDLR dates back to 1994, it has continuously reorganized, rearmed, and recruited without hindrance, with the backing of the DRC.
However, the danger the FDLR represents is not merely its military capacity but the spread of its anti-Tutsi extremist ideology, which has fuelled ethnic violence and persecution for the past 30 years.
The unchecked public preaching of ethnic extremism by leaders in Burundi and the DRC, especially the top leaders, while difficult to quantify in numbers, poses a grave regional threat.
The resumption of the current armed conflict must be properly understood. The East African Community Regional Force (EACRF) successfully enforced and maintained a ceasefire for six months. However, the DRC unilaterally terminated the EACRF mission-not in pursuit of peace, but to wage war.
The coalition assembled by the DRC-including FARDC, SAMIRDC, 10,000 Burundian troops, FDLR, European mercenaries, and a vast stockpile of weapons-was not intended for stability but for the fighting of Kinyarwanda-speaking Congolese (M23) and an assault on Rwanda.
MONUSCO is in its 20th-year, trying to stabilize EDRC. It has stood by as Kinyarwanda-speaking Congolese have suffered the most brutal forms of ethnic persecution and violence.
Over the same period, the FDLR has grown in strength, expanded its territory, and gained allied armed groups. MONUSCO’s leadership has, in effect, become intertwined with the FDLR, making it difficult to distinguish where one ends and the other begins.
Rwanda has painstakingly built its capacity to ensure the safety and security of its people, while also developing the ability to contribute to regional stability. Meanwhile, the DRC contribution has been to traverse European capitals calling for sanctions against Rwanda, including demanding that Rwanda be barred from contributing troops. This does not in any way contribute to any peace process.
Thirty years have passed, yet six genocide suspects remain at large in the UK, living at the expense of British taxpayers. While other Western nations have tried, extradited, or deported genocide suspects, the UK remains the only safe haven in the West.
The UK is aware that each extra day is one too many. The FDLR in the DRC, 30 years as well, is just as responsible for the genocide as the suspects residing in the UK. Now that there is the AU, EAC/SADC framework that will address the FDLR issue, we call on the UK to align with and support this framework. (End)