‘Rwanda is not the only one responsible for the Congo’s misfortunes’

For the past two years, Félix Tshisekedi, President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), has been struggling against a rebellion in the country’s east led by the March 23 Movement (M23), an armed group that has been actively supported by Rwanda, according to United Nations reports. Having been re-elected in December 2023, he condemned the « complicity of the international community » in the conflict in an interview with Le Monde, Radio France public radio and the newspaper The Wall Street Journal on Friday, March 29.

During your campaign, you announced that « at the slightest skirmish, » you would declare war on Rwanda. Since then, Goma, the capital of your country’s North Kivu Province, has been surrounded by the M23 rebels. Does this statement still apply today?

Yes, but there has been intense diplomatic activity since then – not to say pressure on the DRC – to give peace a chance. I am not going down this road out of weakness, but in the hope that it will lead to something. Rwandan President Paul Kagame’s provocations are many, and his manipulation and evil intentions are beyond the shadow of a doubt. This is the last chance for a way out, after which we will respond to skirmishes, because we have the means to do so.

You have refused to negotiate with the insurgents, and have only agreed to do so with your Rwandan counterpart. Is a meeting with Paul Kagame planned in the near future?

Possibly. It will depend on the process that is currently underway. The Angolan president [Joao Lourenço] has been appointed by the African Union as a mediator for this crisis. I prefer not to speculate on what will or will not happen.

How do you explain the Congolese military’s lack of progress in their operations; and the M23’s advance, backed by the Rwandan army?

We need to put things into perspective. This may be the case on certain axes, but on others, we are pushing them back. And they have suffered many deaths among their ranks. But this war has prevented us from continuing to reform our army. The army I inherited was riddled with rebels, who were integrated after agreements to resolve previous crises involving Rwandan-backed armed groups were signed. This explains the real difficulties we face today.

We need to separate the wheat from the chaff. There are traitors in our army. Not only Rwandophones, but also Congolese people of other linguistic backgrounds. Today, we are fighting both a visible enemy – Rwanda – and an invisible one, those who have infiltrated our ranks.

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