The government of Rwanda has changed its position on President Paul Kagame’s stance that the nation will no longer provide refuge to anyone escaping turmoil in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Refugees crossing the border into Rwanda, according to Mr. Kagame, are “not Rwanda’s problem.”
“I am refusing that Rwanda should carry this burden,” the president said.
The spokesperson for the Rwandan government, Yolande Makolo, tweeted on Tuesday night that Rwanda had no plans to prohibit or expel refugees.
She said that President Kagame’s comments had been misrepresented by the media.
Nothing will change until the international community & DRC Govt stop evading responsibility & begin tackling the true causes of the crisis. Blaming Rwanda fails citizens on both sides of the border, feeds hate speech/persecution, causing yet more Congolese citizens to flee. 3/4
— Yolande Makolo 🇷🇼 (@YolandeMakolo) January 10, 2023
“What the President addressed was the blatant hypocrisy in criticising Rwanda which simultaneously gets the blame for state failure in the DRC [DR Congo], and is then expected to accommodate those who seek refuge from the consequences of that failure”. She wrote on her Tweeter page.
Meanwhile, The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has been plagued by conflict for almost 30 years. Civil wars, neighborhood disputes, and cross-border hostilities have resulted in millions of deaths and an estimated 5.6 million displaced persons.
