Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame said Thursday that recent peace talks with DR Congo had been merely a photo opportunity for leaders and demanded new efforts to solve their deadly conflict.
Peace talks hosted by Angola were cancelled at the last minute in December, when leaders hit deadlock over a Rwandan demand that Congolese negotiators talk directly with rebels operating on their territory.
Rwanda-backed rebels known as the March 23 Movement (M23) since 2021 have seized swathes of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, displacing thousands and triggering a humanitarian crisis.
Rwanda says its aim is to tackle the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), an armed group primarily composed of Hutu militants formed in the wake of the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
But it has also been accused by the DRC of seizing valuable mines in the region, which is known for its mineral riches.
A ceasefire in August failed to keep the peace, and the talks between Kagame and DRC President Felix Tshisekedi in Luanda broke down.
“Wherever there were meetings to discuss how to end this problem, Rwanda was present,” Kagame said in a press conference.
“But in the end, even now as we speak, the (focus) is not on ending the problem, the (focus) is on the appearance, being photographed,” he added.
“We have to have results built on addressing root causes.”
Rwanda denies reports by United Nations experts and others that it is directly supporting the M23.
The Rwandan president has trodden a fine line, never admitting military involvement but saying the fighting cannot end until the FDLR is eliminated.
“The FDLR question has to be answered. There’s no dodging it or circling around the problem endlessly. We have to find a solution,” Kagame said.
DR Congo Foreign Minister Therese Kayikwamba Wagner said at a press briefing on Thursday in Kinshasa that the country would return to peace talks if the opportunity was presented.
“If the Luanda process were to resume by giving us reliable reasons… we will return to Luanda,” she said.
“We have always insisted that the solution to this problem, the diplomatic solution, would be found only in Luanda.”