President Paul Kagame has said that Rwanda is not going to bear the responsibility of increasing numbers of Congolese refugees while the world keeps a deaf ear to the real security threats - including the FDLR genocidal forces - in eastern DR Congo.
Speaking at Parliament during the swearing-in of Senator François-Xavier Kalinda, on Monday, January 9, President Kagame talked, in depth, about how he personally engaged his DR Congo counterpart, Felix Tshisekedi, when the latter became president about the issue of Congolese refugees in Rwanda and suggested several alternatives to solve it.
Currently, there more than 80,000 Congolese refugees in Rwanda who, over the past decades, especially fled ethnic cleansing in DR Congo. They are Kinyarwanda-speaking Congolese that fled from decades-long persecution and ethnic cleansing back in their country.
Kagame said: "I raised this matter to the current president of DR Congo when he came to office. I told him we even at one point thought of absorbing them but also told them the difficulties that were involved. When we were proposing to give them citizenship, we told them that if they accept it, they can't be the same people to go back and cause problems in DR Congo when they get citizenship. I told him (Tshisekedi) that we shall all rally behind him to have this problem resolved. At first, he seemed convinced, but now, see where we are."
The Congolese government has blamed Rwanda of supporting the M23 rebel group, an allegation Kigali has refuted.
The M23 rebel group is largely composed of Kinyarwanda-speaking Congolese who are fighting for their rights as DR Congo citizens.
On several occasions, Kinshasa and some members of the international community have urged that the M23 return to Rwanda as if that is where they originated from.
President Kagame said: "On several occasions, we have explained over and over again that these people did not come from Rwanda."
Congolese leaders have often claimed that the Kinyarwanda-speaking Congolese are in fact Rwandan Tutsi and should go back to Rwanda.
"This is gross abuse of people's rights and abuse against us as a country," Kagame said.
Kagame went on to say that Rwanda absolutely rejects carrying the burden of the turmoil going on in eastern DR Congo.
He said: "This is the basis to which I reject and object to these constant statements being made to an extent that we are also abused."
In describing the situation, Kagame noted that as the killings and hate speech against Kinyarwanda-speaking Congolese escalate, Rwanda continues to receive more refugees.
He listed other incidents which also affected Rwanda directly including the Congolese army and the FDLR shelling on Rwandan territory on several occasions, in addition to the FDLR attack in Kinigi that left several civilians dead and temporarily shut down tourism activities in the area.
"We warned people and want to warn them today...You want me to keep quiet when those people close that area and we are losing people? You allow turmoil to go on, and you expect to have your interests safeguarded. How are you going to have your interests [safeguarded] when there is no peace?" Kagame posed.
His questions, clearly, were directed to the international community.
With regards to Rwanda's interests, Kagame said that they are different from what others call interests.
Rwanda's interests are about survival, he noted.
"We have that history that tells us that, for anything else, we have to be alive. We have explained so much to so many and to the power that must be. We are explaining simple things to them."
The DR Congo has labelled M23 as terrorists.
But, according to Kagame, Kinshasa and the rebels need to sort their issues out, internally.
The President also queried the status of the refugees in Rwanda, saying, "but the 80,000 refugees who are here, and more who are coming and [are] composed of ordinary men, women, and children; are they terrorists?"
"They [the Congolese government] don't want to talk to M23 and when they agree to talk to them, they want to do it secretly so that no one knows that they are talking to them so that they keep it a Rwandan problem. This is not Rwanda's problem and we are going to make sure that everybody realizes it is not Rwanda's problem, starting with those who say it is Rwanda's problem and not Congolese; first of all, remove these Congolese from here."
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President Kagame stressed that he will not allow Rwanda to carry DR Congo's burden and be insulted and abused every day.
"You either carry these refugees from here and take them wherever you want, or take them back to DR Congo and protect them from there against their own government and from mercenaries. I am preparing you, you must understand that this is a problem that must be addressed like others.
"For FDLR and its affiliate groups to be there for [all] these decades can't be there by accident. If you are saying that M23 [should] go back to Rwanda and you don't talk about FDLR because you want them to stay, that is exactly the heart of the matter. You want to get rid of a certain identity and keep the other one you want."
