{"id":96988,"date":"2025-03-01T18:06:53","date_gmt":"2025-03-01T18:06:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/uk-minister-retracts-adf-comments-says-rwanda-not-linked-to-terror-group"},"modified":"2025-03-01T18:06:53","modified_gmt":"2025-03-01T18:06:53","slug":"uk-minister-retracts-adf-comments-says-rwanda-not-linked-to-terror-group","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/uk-minister-retracts-adf-comments-says-rwanda-not-linked-to-terror-group","title":{"rendered":"UK minister retracts ADF comments, says Rwanda not linked to terror group"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Rwanda. <\/strong><\/span>A British government minister who suggested that Rwanda had links with the Ugandan terrorist group ADF has retracted his claims after he admitted to the blunder, The New Times has learnt.<\/p>\n<p>Lord Ray Collins of Highbury, the UK\u2019s Minister for Africa, wrote a letter to Rwanda\u2019s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Olivier Nduhungirehe, on Saturday, March 1, acknowledging the mistake he made when answering a question in the House of Lords on February 25.<\/p>\n<p>The Rwandan government had expressed dismay at the remarks, saying they showed \u201cignorance, confusion and misinformation\u201d about the situation in DR Congo, according to Nduhungirehe. The government also requested for a public correction and official apology from the UK government for the \u201cfalse and insulting\u201d remarks.<\/p>\n<p>Diplomatic sources privy to the matter said that in the letter Lord Collins clarified that the UK does not think Rwanda is associated with the Islamic State-linked group ADF, which recently killed 70 people in a church in Lubero, North Kivu in eastern DR Congo.<\/p>\n<p>Contrary to what he had told the House of Lords, the British minister also clarified that he had not discussed the ADF attack with Nduhungirehe when they met in Geneva last week.<\/p>\n<p>The sources said that Lord Collins promised to write a letter to Lord Alton, who asked the question about the ADF attack, to \u201cformally correct the record.\u201d The New Times understands that the letter will also be published in the House of Lords Library and online.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018No apology from UK\u2019<\/p>\n<p>The Rwandan foreign minister confirmed that Lord Collins had written the letter.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile we take note of the letter, there is no accompanying apology,\u201d Nduhungirehe told The New Times on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>Rwanda on Thursday summoned the British High Commissioner Alison Thorpe to explain the controversial remarks.<\/p>\n<p>Rwanda\u2019s diplomatic relations with UK hit a rock recently after the European country sought to impose sanctions on Rwanda over allegations of involvement in the conflict in DR Congo, where the AFC\/M23 rebels are fighting the Congolese armed forces.<\/p>\n<p>The Rwandan government accused the UK of having \u201cclearly chosen a side\u201d in the conflict that has affected relations between Rwanda and DR Congo.<\/p>\n<p>Rwanda has long expressed concerns about DR Congo\u2019s collaboration with the FDLR, a UN-sanctioned terrorist group linked to the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.<\/p>\n<p>The foreign ministry said UK ignored Rwanda\u2019s security concerns in the face of a Congolese government coalition operating along its border and Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi\u2019s publicly declared intention to topple the Rwandan leaders.<\/p>\n<p>The ministry maintained the Rwanda would not compromise its national security and the safety of Rwandans, adding that defensive measures taken in the face of the threat from DR Congo were justified.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Rwanda<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Rwanda. A British government minister who suggested that Rwanda had links with the Ugandan terrorist group ADF has retracted his claims after he admitted to the blunder, The New Times has learnt. Lord Ray Collins of Highbury, the UK\u2019s Minister for Africa, wrote a letter to Rwanda\u2019s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":96987,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,29,14,772],"tags":[6996,758],"class_list":["post-96988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-policy","category-to-homepage","tag-eastern-dr-congo-crisis","tag-rwanda"],"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>UK minister retracts ADF comments, says Rwanda not linked to terror group - Rwanda<\/title>\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\/rwanda\/all-news\/uk-minister-retracts-adf-comments-says-rwanda-not-linked-to-terror-group\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UK minister retracts ADF comments, says Rwanda not linked to terror group\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Africa-Press &#8211; Rwanda. A British government minister who suggested that Rwanda had links with the Ugandan terrorist group ADF has retracted his claims after he admitted to the blunder, The New Times has learnt. 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