{"id":2000120999,"date":"2026-07-30T10:04:47","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T08:04:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/?p=2000120999"},"modified":"2026-07-30T10:04:49","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T08:04:49","slug":"washington-agreement-calls-for-fdlrs-neutralisation-not-a-negotiated-protocol-yolande-makolo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/washington-agreement-calls-for-fdlrs-neutralisation-not-a-negotiated-protocol-yolande-makolo\/","title":{"rendered":"Washington Agreement calls for FDLR’s neutralisation, not a negotiated protocol \u2013 Yolande Makolo"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Makolo made the remarks on July 30, 2026, in response to comments by the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (DRC) Minister of Communication and Media and Government Spokesperson, Patrick Muyaya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Muyaya had announced that, as part of implementing the Washington Agreement, the FDLR had signed an agreement on disarmament, demobilisation, reintegration and relocation to a secure, monitored site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a post on X, Muyaya described the move as a major breakthrough in resolving the FDLR issue, despite the Washington Agreement making no provision for such a process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Responding to the remarks, Makolo wrote: “The Washington Agreement calls for the neutralisation of the FDLR\u2014not a negotiated protocol with a genocidal militia that the DRC government continues to arm and collaborate with.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She added that declarations of voluntary disarmament are meaningless while the group remains integrated into the Congolese army and continues to fight on the frontlines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Voluntary ‘disarmament’ announcements while the FDLR remains embedded in the Congolese army & active on the frontlines change nothing. Implementation means verifiable dismantlement, not theatre.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Makolo reiterated that Rwanda remains committed to implementing the agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Rwanda remains focused on implementation of the agreement. Our region deserves real security & stability, not paper exercises.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the evening of July 28, 2026, DRC’s Minister for Regional Integration, Floribert Anzuluni, accompanied by Patrick Muyaya, announced that the FDLR had agreed to lay down its arms, arguing that the remaining step was for Rwanda to lift its defensive measures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The announcement came after Anzuluni had spent several days touring African and European countries, discreetly promoting a proposal prepared by the FDLR and signed by its president, Victor Byiringiro.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The document, described as the FDLR’s “self-dissolution” plan, was submitted to DRC President F\u00e9lix Tshisekedi on May 30, 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Government Spokesperson Yolande Makolo has reiterated that implementing the Washington Agreement requires the FDLR’s verifiable dismantlement, not what she describes as “theatre.”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rwanda’s Government Spokesperson, Yolande Makolo, has said the Washington Peace Agreement calls for the neutralisation of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), not a negotiated protocol with the armed group.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2000121001,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[151,69],"byline":[170],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-2000120999","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-37","tag-editors-choice","tag-homehighlights","byline-igihe"],"bylines":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"contributors":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"featured_image":{"id":2000121001,"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/07\/whatsapp-image-2026-06-18-at-17.17_49-fe7a3.jpg","alt":"","caption":"Government Spokesperson Yolande Makolo has reiterated that implementing the Washington Agreement requires the FDLR's verifiable dismantlement, not what she describes as \"theatre.\"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":999,"height":764,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/07\/whatsapp-image-2026-06-18-at-17.17_49-fe7a3.jpg","width":999,"height":764},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/07\/whatsapp-image-2026-06-18-at-17.17_49-fe7a3.jpg","width":999,"height":764},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/07\/whatsapp-image-2026-06-18-at-17.17_49-fe7a3.jpg","width":999,"height":764},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/07\/whatsapp-image-2026-06-18-at-17.17_49-fe7a3.jpg","width":999,"height":764},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/07\/whatsapp-image-2026-06-18-at-17.17_49-fe7a3.jpg","width":999,"height":764}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000120999","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2000120999"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000120999\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2000121003,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000120999\/revisions\/2000121003"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000121001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2000120999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2000120999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2000120999"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=2000120999"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=2000120999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}