Rwanda’s president said Friday his country will deliver on its part of a recently US-brokered peace deal signed with the Democratic Republic of Congo.
It was his first public comments since the deal was signed in Washington that many hope will end the conflict in eastern Congo.
Paul Kagame said at a news conference in Kigali that he appreciated the US mediation in securing the peace deal. He said the Trump administration looked at a combination of three matters that needed to be addressed -- political, security and economic.
The June 27 agreement calls for a cessation of hostilities between the two neighboring armies.
It responds to the Congo’s key concerns, including respect for its territorial integrity, the disarmament of armed groups and the implementation of measures to restore lasting stability in the region.
“We have agreed to do a number of things together with others, and we will do that. You will never find Rwanda at fault with implementing what we have agreed to do, you will never. But if the side we are working with plays tricks and takes us back to the problem, then we deal with the problem like we have been dealing with it,” he said.
Noting that the main part of the Congo crisis is external, Kagame said the success of the peace deal will depend on goodwill from all parties in the conflict.
“I’m thankful to President Trump’s decision. By the way, even if it doesn’t work, I don’t think they (US) should be the ones to be blamed because in the end they are not the ones to implement what we have agreed. It’s our task for us in the region DRC or Rwanda to implement their part of the bargain.”
Congo’s Foreign Minister Therese Kayikwamba told reporters in Kinshasa on Thursday that her government will keep pushing to translate the accord into lasting peace, sustainable development, and the full pacification of the eastern provinces and the wider Great Lakes region.
Eastern Congo has been plagued by violence for decades.
The resurgence of the M23 rebel group in 2021 exacerbated the conflict.
Clashes between the M23 and government forces in eastern Congo displaced at least 500,000 people and killed more than 3,000 by late February, according to the Africa Center for Strategic Studies.
