Unwilling partners: Congo in EAC, Rwanda in ECCAS

DR Congo President Felix Tshisekedi poses for a photo with his Rwanda counterpart Paul Kagame in Rubavu, Rwanda on June 25, 2021. 

Photo credit: PSU

Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are neighbours with a shared history. But their ongoing differences are now playing out in regional and international organisations, signalling a future cooperation problem.

On Monday, the Rwandan Cabinet endorsed the country’s decision to quit the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), which Kigali accuses of not calling out Kinshasa when it “directly violated Article 3 of the ECCAS Treaty on good-neighbourliness, by repeatedly shelling Rwanda.”