how Rwanda established itself as an ally as essential as it was cumbersome

Although it intervenes in the Congo completely illegally, as the UN specifies in a note that we reveal, Rwanda has made itself essential to Westerners by providing them with soldiers in peacekeeping operations.

“We are losing Rwandan soldiers. Our brothers, our sisters, our children are brought back in body bags and buried without honors.” In November 2022, Rwandan journalist Samuel Baker traveled to the Kivu region in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) with his colleague John Williams Ntwali. Both want to know what is happening in this border area with Rwanda. On social networks, messages deplore the death of young Rwandan soldiers in Congo. But this is not enough to attest to the reality of these deaths. This is why Samuel Baker and his colleague are going into the field. The Forbidden Stories consortium, with which the Radio France investigation unit is associated, continued their investigations. Our investigation established that among 13 deceased soldiers identified by Samuel Baker between May 2022 and early 2023, the majority of them would have lost their lives in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

President Kagame regularly recalls that former Hutu genocidaires from the armed group of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) are in the DRC and that they present a danger to the Tutsis living there, which in his eyes would justify that he can intervene. The 18th February 2024, the Rwandan Ministry of Foreign Affairs denounced “the DRC’s support for the FDLR.”Consequently, he specifies, Rwanda reserves the right to take all legitimate measures to defend”. For Samuel Baker, “the main reason for this war has nothing to do with the Tutsi community. It is linked to money and minerals.” Thierry Vircoulon, associate researcher at the French Institute of International Relations (Ifri), also notes that “Paul Kagame defends the idea that the border is illegitimate and that part of North Kivu should be part of Rwanda.”

The DRC accuses its neighbor of having sent soldiers to its soil to support the M23 rebel movement which massacred or threw tens of thousands of civilians onto the roads, officially, Rwanda has never acknowledged having intervened outside its borders, contrary to what the United States, France and several other European countries maintain.

Did Rwanda violate the sovereignty of its immense neighbor ? If we are to believe a confidential note that we were able to consult, the answer is yes. Written in May 2022 by experts from the United Nations Mission in Congo (MONUSCO), it is entitled “Entry of soldiers of the Rwandan defense forces onto Congolese soil”. She affirms that Rwanda leads “an invasion against the DRC. Thierry Vircoulon recalls that“In international law, when your army is on the other side of a border, it is called aggression. But Rwanda does not want to be condemned as an aggressor country, like Russia is an aggressor country in Ukraine” .

The United Nations Security Council has never sanctioned Rwanda despite observed violations of international law and the catastrophic humanitarian situation prevailing in eastern DRC. No doubt because at the same time, Rwanda provides great services to Western countries in Africa. The Rwandan army is in fact the third largest contributor in the world to UN interposition missions.

At the start of 2024, almost 6 000 Rwandan peacekeepers were deployed, mainly in South Sudan and the Central African Republic. Western countries having become reluctant to send their military there, they defend “an African solution to African problems”. However, apart from Rwanda, few African countries have soldiers well enough trained and equipped to deploy. Furthermore, in this country where freedom of expression is reduced, even if soldiers die on missions, criticism is stifled. For the former Rwandan ambassador to the United Nations Eugène Gasana – now at odds with the Kagame administration –, “the peacekeeping program is vital for the regime. It gives it credibility and makes it indispensable.”

Outside the UN, Rwanda is also involved in other security missions. In Cabo Delgado, a province in northern Mozambique in particular, he succeeded in containing the jihadist rebellion, unlike Wagner’s Russian mercenaries who had failed. The place is strategic for France and for Europe. Off the coast of the province, TotalEnergies exploits natural gas, which partly explains why the European Union finances the Rwandan mission to the tune of 20 million euros annually. This contingent is led by General Alexis Kagame (who is not from Paul Kagame’s family). The man was implicated by the internal MONUSCO note mentioned above for his role in the DRC. Some EU countries were considering sanctioning him. But for the former ambassador, Eugène Gasana, Rwanda has a means of pressure on the West: “He threatens to withdraw the peacekeeping forces. Paul Kagame will always use this card if he has a problem with the UN.”

Against a backdrop of Islamist threat and Russian penetration in Africa, Rwanda therefore becomes untouchable by posing as a reassuring alternative. “Kagame knows what Western countries want. He has made himself so important that they are afraid to hold him accountable.” believes journalist Samuel Baker. A few days after his return from reporting in Congo, the latter was arrested and questioned by the Rwandan authorities. He now lives in exile, far from home, in an undisclosed location. As for his colleague John Williams Ntwali who investigated this “dirty war” with him, he died on January 18, 2023 in a mysterious road accident in Kigali.

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