Kagame attacks UN over Congo crisis

Kagame attacks UN over Congo crisis

Thursday, 6th November, 2008


By George Kalisa
in Kigali

RWANDAN leader Paul Kagame has blamed the current DRC crisis on the United Nations, saying there were business interests that were overriding efforts of finding lasting solutions to the human crisis in the region.

He said the UN was evading the problem by creating an impression that the issue was a Kagame-Kabila problem.

“They have turned the DRC crisis into business; the $1b per year, ostensibly spent on ending the crisis, is business for them – they don’t take stock of what they spend on,” he said.

Kagame made the scathing attacks on Wednesday during the weekly press conference at Village Urugwiro in Kigali.
“There are key players in what is happening and the DRC government uses them. MONUC (the UN mission in Congo) do not want to end the crisis; in the end they also want a solution to emanate from Rwanda and Congo,” he added.

“The people who say Kagame and Kabila have the solution to the problem simply add onto the problem. It’s just one way of running away from the problem and I assure you they touch the problem and run away – the ministers from Europe have been flying in for the last 14 years,” he said.

“They have no guts to solve this problem; they just want to appease the people by smiling in the cameras,” Kagame charged.

“What is that Kagame is holding that can address the situation; if there were such a thing, I would release it,” he said.
On the issue of creating a demilitarised corridor in the war- ravaged region, Kagame said the party supposed to ensure this was blind and had a selfish mission.

“MONUC came to DRC with a mandate that is not clear. It supports the DRC government and they end up helping a government that is in the wrong and the UN bows to that,” he said.

“MONUC are expected to be with the clarity of the problem and the formula of solving it. It is absurd the people who would see it work out are either confused about the problem or simply have their own selfish interests to protect,” he added.

On whether Rwanda was using the presence of the Hutu militias in Congo as a pretext to influence events there, Kagame said the parties responsible for the DRC crisis avoid the cause of the problem and support Rwanda’s enemies.
“Why don’t they remove the pretext; why are they happy to live with the pretext? he ironically asked.

The Rwandan leader said with or without the Hutu rebels, Kinshasa’s weakness was evident in the persistent human crisis there; accusing Joseph Kabila’s regime of running the government on extremism and divisive politics.

Kagame disassociated himself from Gen. Laurent Nkunda, saying he is a leader of a Congolese rebel group and not a Rwandan.

He said the DRC government recently fired at Rwanda’s territory to provoke his country into waging a war.

“We knew that and we didn’t fire back. I personally called Kabila over it. He blamed his commanders for what he (Kabila) described as a mistake and we discussed in details the history of the crisis.

“They wanted to divert the problem and drag Rwanda into it but we could not succumb to that trick. Rwanda should not be made to carry the burden of Congo; we have our burdens to carry.”

Rwanda’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation issued a public statement yesterday, urging the international community to urgently deal with the issue of Er-FARllnterahamwe/FDLR, which the Kigali government said it cannot be handled by Rwanda and the DRC alone.

The ministry said Rwanda and the DRC regularly communicate and exchange visits by special envoys.

Meanwhile, the two countries will send delegations to the regional summit convened in Nairobi today to a find a solution to the conflict.



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