Africa-Press – Rwanda. The three-decade existence of the FDLR, a DR Congo-based militia linked to the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, has been possible because of the support it receives from international community, including powerful countries that maintain it as a threat to Rwanda’s development, the Minister of State for Regional Cooperation has said.
Gen (Rtd) James Kabarebe made the observation on Wednesday, March 5, while speaking at a session in which MPs, high-level government officials, political party representatives, and civil society members reflected on the status of the genocidal ideology in the region and measures to fight it.
Kabarebe said FDLR’s existence in eastern DR Congo was not a result of its power alone, but rather because it has been intentionally maintained. In the ongoing war against the M23 rebels, the FDLR has been integrated into the Congolese armed forces, alongside local militias known as Wazalendo.
The meeting brought together Members of Parliament, government officials, representatives of political parties and civil society on Tuesday, March 5. Courtesy
The reasons for harbouring the FDLR, he said, include the shame that was caused by the fact that the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi occurred as the powerful countries watched and did not act to stop it.
“Another very important factor is that Rwanda is a country at an extraordinary development speed. If there is nothing to stop it, it will not be a good example in Africa,” Kabarebe said in referring to unnamed countries that do not want Africa to develop.
These countries, he said, know very well that only divisionism through genocide ideolog can weaken Rwanda.
“FDLR has existed in Congo because it is preserved as a threat to Rwanda that can stop the [development] speed at which we are,” he said, underscoring the importance of Rwanda’s self-reliance.
He talked about coalition Wazalendo which consists of young Congolese who were mobilised based on a “very extremist ideology” of hatred against Rwanda, especially the Tutsi.
Kabarebe said most of Wazalendo groups, including Mai Mai Nyatura, that persecute Congolese Tutsi communities were created by FDLR.
He added that FDLR was in a coalition of the DR Congo national army FARDC with Burundian national army, and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (SAMIDRC), among other military entities, which planned to attack Rwanda until their plot failed this year after the M23 rebels took control of the Goma city, which borders with Rwanda.
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