Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame and his senior government officials have several times this year rejected allegations of involvement in the current mutiny in DRC. Here are some of the statements they have made on the issue in the recent past.

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June 19: President Paul Kagame, press conference, Kigali

“The problems of Rwanda and the UN have a long history and have affected other countries as well. The world, and particularly the UN, behaves as if the problems of Congo have been caused by Rwanda or should be Rwanda’s responsibility.

Even long before I was born; there were problems in the Congo related to the UN and colonial rule. Since then it seems nothing has changed.

Concerning the UN and Rwanda, we have another issue relating to the genocide that happened here…well they did not kill but when you don’t act when you should have acted… to prevent something, there has to be some level of responsibility.

“Rwanda has more or less become a convenient way for people to try and explain their responsibilities either to do something in the Congo, to be seen to be trying to contribute to it and then if it fails it is Rwanda, it is not them.”

President Kagame New York, September 27:

“Regional initiatives are key to finding a lasting solution and anyone who wants to help should support them because they are the best option we have.
All that is needed is to support, not supplant, their efforts. The armed groups in the country are the outcome of a complex, long-standing historical reality.

“Therefore, singling out one group out of many is running away from the actual issue. A lasting solution will come from addressing the real issues of governance in DRC and dealing with the genuine grievances of its citizens, even as efforts to end the current crisis are exerted. It’s perplexing the degree to which the international community focuses on the current mutiny at the expense of the much broader challenges present in the DRC, in the eastern region and beyond.

President Kagame August 28: Interview with Metro, a New York based newspaper.

“I understand that human rights groups are locked in a fierce competition for big cheques from wealthy donors and they need to generate big headlines. We do not like to be lectured to by unaccountable advocacy groups acting for their financiers about how to protect the rights of our citizens.

Human rights are not the preserve of Western activists. Accusations about Rwanda having economic interests in Eastern DRC are a persistent myth. Not even for mineral interests could Rwanda involve itself in eastern DRC. Rwanda leads the region in stamping out illegal trade in minerals. We have a functioning mineral certification process. We play by the rules. Recently we handed back to the DRC 80 tonnes of minerals that had been smuggled into Rwanda.

President Kagame November 23, Kigali

“It does not matter how many times you repeat lies about us ... it will not be true ...we are not the source of problems in the neighbourhood ... in this region. You can create perceptions but you cannot create facts where they don’t exist. We want to be people who can deal with perception and fact.. whether they choose to listen or not. I have a duty to continue telling the truth,” he said.

July 28: Rwandan Foreign Affairs Minister Louise Mushikiwabo

“We are not involved in internal DRC political or military affairs. Allegations to the contrary have no basis in fact. We have had three days of discussions with the UN Group of Experts. We went through every single allegation. We have given our explanation, we have provided supporting documents to a number of false allegations, what they do with it, we don’t know.

We have challenged the evidence in the Group of Experts report, including photographs of supposed M23 soldiers wearing Rwandan Army uniforms. First of all, is this uniform genuinely a uniform of the Rwandan army? I can get you a Rwandan uniform in a market in Nairobi now.”