{"id":4448,"date":"2026-02-07T02:55:35","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T02:55:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/home\/rwandas-president-on-congo-tensions-and-security-concerns"},"modified":"2026-02-07T03:21:06","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T03:21:06","slug":"rwandas-president-on-congo-tensions-and-security-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/rwandas-president-on-congo-tensions-and-security-concerns","title":{"rendered":"Rwanda&#8217;s President on Congo Tensions and Security Concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"ap-article-header-tag\"> <strong>Africa-Press. <\/strong> <\/span>Rwandan President Paul Kagame said that tensions between his country and the Democratic Republic of the Congo are not tied to exploiting natural resources or seeking to annex territory in eastern Congo. He argued that the core of the dispute stems from the presence of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), which he described as a security threat and as carrying a \u201cgenocidal\u201d ideology.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking at the opening of the annual national dialogue in Kigali, Kagame said the problem \u201cis not minerals,\u201d arguing that if Rwanda were in Congo for wealth, it \u201cwould be hundreds of times richer.\u201d He stressed that what Rwanda calls \u201cdefensive measures\u201d are a response to ongoing threats emanating from eastern Congo.<\/p>\n<p>Kagame\u2019s remarks followed accusations by Congolese President Fe\u0301lix Tshisekedi that Rwanda is seeking to \u201cdivide\u201d his country and annex the resource-rich eastern part. Kagame also addressed threats related to possible international sanctions, taking a hard line and blaming the international community for the conflict\u2019s persistence over decades.<\/p>\n<p>The \u201cM23\u201d movement remains a central element of the conflict in eastern Congo. The United Nations and Western countries accuse Rwanda of supporting it, which Kigali denies. In the same context, Tshisekedi has previously called for de-escalation and joint efforts to restore peace, while Rwanda\u2019s foreign ministry described those calls as \u201cpolitical theatrics.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"ap-article-footer-note\">Find more news and analyses on <span class=\"ap-highlight-country\">Africa<\/span> on the <span class=\"ap-highlight-brand\">Africa Press<\/span> website<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press. Rwandan President Paul Kagame said that tensions between his country and the Democratic Republic of the Congo are not tied to exploiting natural resources or seeking to annex territory in eastern Congo. He argued that the core of the dispute stems from the presence of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":4447,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[120],"class_list":{"0":"post-4448","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-policy","8":"tag-africa"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Rwanda&#039;s President on Congo Tensions and Security Concerns - Africa Press English<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"-article-header-tag&quot;&gt; Africa-Press. Rwandan President Paul Kagame said that t ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/rwandas-president-on-congo-tensions-and-security-concerns\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rwanda&#039;s President on Congo Tensions and Security Concerns\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"-article-header-tag&quot;&gt; Africa-Press. 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