The United States of America has said it banks on Rwanda’s influence on the March 23 Movement (M23) to encourage the militant group to genuinely pull back from the Democratic Republic of Congo. In August this year, Rwandan troops attacked soldiers inside DR Congo and aided the M23 rebel group with weapons and support, a United Nations group of experts said. DRC repeatedly accused Rwanda of backing the M23, which stems from the long fallout from the 1994 genocide in Rwanda and has captured swathes of territory in recent months. Kigali repeatedly denied supporting M23. From State Secretary Antony J Blinken’s remarks, it is apparent that the U.S. is of the view that Rwanda supports M23. Pindula News presents an extract from Blinken’s press statement:
QUESTION: DRC: You mentioned – you mentioned the DRC in your remarks. You met with President Tshisekedi. If not mistaken, you didn’t meet with President Kagame. What was the reason for not meeting with him? Does that indicate any sort of pessimism with controlling the M23 situation in the eastern DRC?
SECRETARY BLINKEN: Great. Shaun, thank you very much. Let me say this a little bit more broadly before addressing the specific conflicts that you point to. As I said a moment ago, the approach that we’ve taken – actually from day one of this administration – has been to support and empower African-led solutions to challenges the continent faces, including the conflicts that you’ve alluded to.
And from day one – whether it’s Ethiopia, eastern DRC, Somalia, Sudan – the State Department has been deeply engaged and we’ve lent our support, our assistance to the African Union, to the EAC, to other regional groupings, to individual countries to try to help solve these challenges. That’s been the approach we’ve taken. We believe that whenever and wherever we can find African-led solutions to these challenges, we’re going to be better off, they’re going to be more sustainable. And I’m proud to say that our diplomats have played, I believe, important roles in helping to move some of these forward.
So with regard to Rwanda and the DRC, first of all, I spoke to President Kagame on the phone just before the summit and we had a good conversation, just as I had a chance to speak here in Washington to President Tshisekedi. And I can say this: There is a two-track approach that are – and these tracks are pretty much joined – the Nairobi Process and then the efforts that Angola is leading that led to an agreement in Luanda, where all sides made commitments to, in effect, pull back and de-escalate the situation. And that’s an important agreement and, if and as it’s implemented, I think it offers tremendous promise for ending the current conflict and hopefully leading to more durable stability in the eastern DRC.
Now, a big part of that is M23 genuinely pulling back, and there, we are looking to Rwanda to use its influence with M23 to encourage that and to move that forward. At the same time, any militarized nongovernmental group needs to stand down, and that includes groups like the FDLR, and we are looking for all sides to use their influence to ensure that that happens. Rwandan forces need to pull back.
So the challenge now is implementation of what was actually agreed, and that’s what we’re working on with the leaders in question, but also, critically, with those who are playing a leading role in trying to reduce tensions and resolve conflict – notably, Kenya, Angola, the EAC, et cetera.
So I have some hope that we now have an agreement and a process that can lead to that result. That’s what we’re working on, and we’ll continue to engage directly with the president of the DRC, the president of Rwanda, and with all of the others in the region who are leading this effort.