Rwandan President Paul Kagame stated on Thursday that South African troops had no role in the battlefield of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and asserted that he was prepared to “deal” with any confrontation from Pretoria.
Thirteen South African soldiers have lost their lives over the past week in eastern DRC, where Rwanda-backed M23 fighters have continued to capture territory, including the strategically significant regional city of Goma.
The South African troops were deployed as part of the United Nations Stabilisation Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO) peacekeeping force, as well as the Southern African Development Community’s Mission in DRC (SAMIDRC)
In a post on X, Kagame said the 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,” he added.
Rwanda has stated that its primary objective in eastern DRC is to eliminate the FDLR (the French acronym for the Democratic Liberation Front of Rwanda), a group formed from remnants of the forces responsible for the 1994 genocide, which resulted in approximately 800,000 deaths.
Following the deaths of South African troops, President Paul Kagame held discussions with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Tuesday.
Kagame dismissed claims reported in several media outlets that South Africa had issued a warning stating that any further clashes would be considered “a declaration of war.”
But Kagame warned: “If South Africa prefers confrontation, Rwanda will deal with the matter in that context any day.”
