Rwandan President Paul Kagame said US sanctions imposed on his military will not alter Kigali’s stance over eastern DR Congo, dismissing the restrictions as a cost of pursuing national interests.
In March, Washington sanctioned Rwanda’s defense forces and several senior officials, accusing them of funding the M23 rebels who have taken over mineral-rich areas of eastern DR Congo. The US cited violations of a Washington-brokered ceasefire arrangement and said Rwanda was fueling instability.
“I never capitulated in the worst situation,” Kagame told executives and policymakers at the Africa CEO Forum in Kigali. “In a way we are hurt but I think we would be hurt more by not doing what we are doing.”
Rwanda has said its involvement in DR Congo is aimed at countering the FDLR, a militia founded by the perpetrators of the 1994 genocide of Tutsis by Hutus. Kinshasa and UN investigators accuse Kigali of providing direct military support to M23, a charge Rwanda denies.