Rwanda’s president dismisses reports suggesting his country’s support for M23 rebels

JOHANNESBURG

Rwandan President Paul Kagame dismissed reports claiming that his country supports the M23 rebel group, which recently seized key towns in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

Kagame told reporters in the capital Kigali on Thursday that Rwanda has nothing to do with the rebel group and it does not make sense to blame Rwanda for the conflict in the DR Congo.

“These leaders of M23 and the majority of their fighters came from Uganda, where they had been refugees,” he said, adding that M23 rebels are not Rwandans but speak the Rwandan language, Kinyarwanda.

Kinshasa accuses Kigali of supporting the M23 rebels, a claim that Kagame has frequently denied.

A recent report by the United Nations Group of Experts claimed that Rwandan forces were helping the rebels in DR Congo.

Kagame said M23 fighters are Congolese, and even the past and present leaders admit it.

‘‘Why do we have over 100,000 refugees here in Rwanda originating for eastern Congo?” he said.

He said the Rwandan government disarmed M23 fighters who crossed into Rwanda in 2012-13 and gave back their arms to the authorities in DR Congo.

Kagame urged Congolese authorities to address the root causes of the conflict and negotiate with the rebel group to find a solution to end it.

Angolan President Joao Lourenco had been mediating between Tshisekedi and Kagame, but talks hit a deadlock last month.