Rwandan President Paul Kagame has reacted angrily to the warning issued by South Africa following the killing of 13 members of the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) who were part of the regional peacekeeping force comprised of militaries from South Africa, Malawi and Tanzania.
On Wednesday, IOL reported that Defence and Military Veterans Minister Angie Motshekga told journalists that President Cyril Ramaphosa has issued a warning to Rwanda, saying continued hostilities against SANDF members would be taken as a declaration of war.
Rwanda is accused of backing the M23 rebels, but it consistently denies the reports.
In a widely circulating video shared by the Presidency in Rwanda, Kagame told fellow leaders at an Extraordinary Summit of East African Community (EAC) heads of State on Wednesday that he has had two telephonic conversations with President Ramaphosa in recent days.
“He (Ramaphosa) is also there pretending to be playing a peacemaker role, and he has a force that has been fighting alongside FDLR (Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda) and has been fighting the M23 on the instruction of Tshisekedi (Democratic Republic of Congo President Felix Tshisekedi) because these are people who are not supposed to be in Congo, that these are from Rwanda … M23 are not Rwandans, please, these are Congolese,” said a seemingly irritated Kagame.
He said in other instances, Ramaphosa accepts that element.
“South Africa even dares to issue threats about what is going to happen after that and so on and so forth. Of course, we will see what threats they are talking about. Maybe they should have done that which they are issuing threats, they should have done it to clean up the mess in Congo, or to fight back those who have been trying to clean up the mess,” he said.
Kagame said the international community has become “confused” on what is transpiring in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Earlier on Thursday, IOL reported that in an unprecedented escalation of tensions between South Africa and Rwanda, Kagame had responded to Ramaphosa on social media platform X, with Kagame accusing his Pretoria counterpart of distorting facts.
However, what was chilling about Kagame’s 11pm reaction to Ramaphosa on X, was his last paragraph. Kagame responded: “If South Africa wants to contribute to peaceful solutions, that is well and good, but South Africa is in no position to take on the role of a peacemaker or mediator.
Kagame added: “And if South Africa prefers confrontation, Rwanda will deal with the matter in that context any day.”
Ramaphosa wrote a lengthy message earlier on Wednesday, mourning the killing of 13 “brave” South African soldiers who were dedicated to their mission and committed to peace.
“The fighting is the result of an escalation by the rebel group M23 and Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) militia engaging the Armed Forces of the DRC (FARDC) and attacking peacekeepers from the SADC Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (SAMIDRC),” said Ramaphosa.
“On behalf of the government and the people of our country, I express our sincerest condolences to their families, their loved ones and colleagues. We bow our heads in honour of their heroic and gallant fight for peace. We honour and mourn them.”
“The attacks on peacekeepers resulted in the deaths of SAMIDRC members from other troop contributing countries, namely, Malawi and Tanzania, as well members of the UN Organization Stabilisation Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO) brigade. We honour all the lives that were lost and pass our condolences to their families, governments and citizens,” said Ramaphosa.
But it is the reference to the Rwandan Defence Force as a “militia” which got Kagame’s blood boiling in his response to Ramaphosa on X.
Kagame said he had two conversations this week with President Ramaphosa on the situation in Eastern DRC, including earlier on Wednesday.
“What has been said about these conversations in the media by South African officials and President Ramaphosa himself contains a lot of distortion, deliberate attacks, and even lies. If words can change so much from a conversation to a public statement, it says a lot about how these very important issues are being managed.
“The Rwanda Defence Force is an army, not a militia. SAMIDRC is not a peacekeeping force, and it has no place in this situation. It was authorised by SADC as a belligerent force engaging in offensive combat operations to help the DRC government fight against its own people, working alongside genocidal armed groups like FDLR which target Rwanda, while also threatening to take the war to Rwanda itself,” said Kagame.
IOL