Sawt Falasteen - Rwanda cannot be blamed for what happens in DR Congo, FM says

DR Congo has been beset by conflict for three decades, most recently an armed insurgency by the M23 armed group that the DR Congo government and UN experts say is backed by Rwanda.

An offensive by M23 and the Rwandan army captured large swathes of eastern DR Congo in 2025, and clashes have continued despite a US-brokered peace agreement between Rwanda and the DR Congo last December. The region is also grappling with an Ebola epidemic that has killed nearly 5,000 people.

The United States on Wednesday imposed sanctions on the Rwandan defence ministry and a Rwandan financial institution over their alleged support for M23.

"The situation in the DRC, the political situation, the security situation, is mainly a Congolese issue," Rwandan Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe told AFP on the sidelines of a Russia-Africa summit in Moscow, before the US sanctions were imposed.

"Rwanda must not be held as a scapegoat for what is happening in Congo forever," he added.

Nduhungirehe also pushed back at Kinshasa's allegations that former DR Congo president Joseph Kabila was a Rwandan "proxy", after he joined forces with M23 this month.

"It is a political issue that must be settled politically between the Congolese," Nduhungirehe said.

UN experts say Rwanda exercises significant control over M23 and continues to deploy thousands of troops in its neighbour, an accusation Rwanda has repeatedly denied.

Rwanda says that it faces an existential threat from Congolese militias in eastern DR Congo east that were founded by ethnic Hutus involved in the 1994 genocide of Tutsis in Rwanda.

- 'Return hub' -

Nduhungirehe also confirmed that discussions were under way on the creation of a so-called "return hub" in Rwanda for migrants expelled from the European Union countries.

Denmark, Austria, Greece, Germany and the Netherlands have sought to create such a centre, but have not yet said where.

An agreement between Rwanda and the five European countries could be signed as early as next month, according to three people in Europe briefed on the negotiations.

"Since the discussions are still ongoing, I cannot of course dwell on them," Nduhungirehe said.

"This is a very sensitive issue for us, since we want to give dignity to human beings, to migrants, to refugees," he added.

K.Hassan--SF-PST