{"id":54762,"date":"2025-07-04T17:51:28","date_gmt":"2025-07-04T17:51:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/rwanda-drc-peace-deal-success-depends-on-mutual-good-faith-kagame\/"},"modified":"2025-07-08T11:39:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-08T11:39:10","slug":"rwanda-drc-peace-deal-success-depends-on-mutual-good-faith-kagame","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/rwanda-drc-peace-deal-success-depends-on-mutual-good-faith-kagame\/","title":{"rendered":"Rwanda-DRC peace deal success depends on mutual good faith \u2013 Kagame"},"content":{"rendered":"

“We reached an agreement in Washington, D.C., but it is not up to Washington to implement it. It\u2019s those who reached the agreement who must actually implement what we agreed,” President Kagame stated during a conversation with the media on Rwanda’s Liberation Day on Friday, July 4.<\/p>\n

Expressing his optimism about the deal succeeding, he explained that resolving such complex issues requires Cooperation and flexibility. <\/p>\n

“You don\u2019t get 100% of what you want because there are many parties concerned with the problem. Each one may get a piece of what they wanted, another gets a piece of what they wanted, and together, stability comes out of it. So, for me, I think there is a chance that we may get somewhere with that,” the president noted.<\/p>\n

The Washington-mediated agreement was signed on June 27 to address tensions in eastern DRC. It focuses on joint security measures to neutralise the FDLR militia, which Rwanda has identified as a persistent threat along its border.<\/p>\n

During the interview, the head of state affirmed Rwanda’s commitment to its end of the bargain and insisted that the DRC do the same by eliminating the threat along the border with Rwanda.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf FDLR is not removed, the problem continues to be there, and Rwanda will always do what it has to do,\u201d Kagame warned.<\/p>\n

“You will never find Rwanda at fault when it comes to implementing what we have agreed to do. Never,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

President Kagame highlighted that the deal with President Felix Tshisekedi\u2019s administration rests on three interconnected pillars: political, economic, and security, stressing that focusing solely on one aspect, such as the region\u2019s mineral wealth, oversimplifies the conflict.<\/p>\n

He criticised past approaches that reduced the crisis to economic motives, noting, \u201cThey talk about minerals as the centre of the whole problem. They should also blame themselves.\u201d <\/p>\n

He argued that the Trump administration\u2019s holistic approach, unlike previous efforts, acknowledges the complexity of the conflict, including political issues like the denial of citizenship to Kinyarwanda-speaking Congolese and the internal dynamics within the DRC.<\/p>\n

The president also pointed to a parallel Qatar-mediated process involving the DRC government and the M23 rebel group, describing it as addressing the \u201cinternal matters\u201d of Congo, which he said are often wrongly framed as solely a Rwanda-DRC issue. <\/p>\n

\u201cCongo has always tried to make this problem only a problem between Rwanda and DRC, but there is a bigger component that is DRC\u2019s problem,\u201d Kagame said, citing the need to resolve issues like the marginalisation of Kinyarwanda-speaking communities within Congo.<\/p>\n

Kagame expressed gratitude to the Trump administration for prioritising the region\u2019s challenges, contrasting their engagement with the indifference of previous Western powers. <\/p>\n

\u201cI thank them that they even paid attention to the problem at all,\u201d he said, noting that global focus often centres on conflicts in the Middle East or Ukraine. <\/p>\n

Addressing criticisms that the Trump administration\u2019s approach is exploitative, Kagame challenged detractors to reflect on their own inaction. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou were here all these years, doing nothing except doing the wrong thing,\u201d he said, questioning the effectiveness of past sanctions and UN missions in Congo, which he accused of perpetuating biased narratives. <\/p>\n

He specifically criticised the UN\u2019s Group of Experts for focusing blame on Rwanda and M23 while ignoring the FDLR\u2019s role in spreading \u201cgenocide ideology\u201d and destabilising the region.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou will never find them writing anything comprehensively about FDLR. You\u2019ll never find them writing anything comprehensively about how government institutions are connected with FDLR in spreading hate ideology, genocide ideology\u2014things that are being done in broad daylight for everybody to see,\u201d Kagame said. \u201cSo you wonder, how can experts not see that?\u201d<\/p>\n

President Kagame was also adamant about his stance on Rwanda\u2019s broader journey toward self-reliance.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t owe our living to anyone,\u201d he declared, emphasising that Rwanda\u2019s progress over the last three decades reflects a commitment to never again be \u201csheep to be slaughtered.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

President Paul Kagame has said that the success of the latest peace deal between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) depends not on external guarantees but on the commitment of both countries to implement the agreed terms honestly and in good faith.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":2000090358,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[75],"byline":[192],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-54762","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-homenews","byline-wycliffe-nyamasege"],"bylines":[{"id":192,"name":"Wycliffe Nyamasege","slug":"wycliffe-nyamasege","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":131}],"contributors":[{"id":192,"name":"Wycliffe Nyamasege","slug":"wycliffe-nyamasege","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":131}],"featured_image":{"id":2000090358,"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/81013logo.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":0,"height":0,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/81013logo.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/81013logo.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/81013logo.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/81013logo.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/81013logo.jpg","width":0,"height":0}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54762","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\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54762"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54762\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000090358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54762"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=54762"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=54762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}