President Paul Kagame has indicated that since the signing of the Washington D.C. agreement, he has been called upon by many people, mainly those who want to put pressure on Rwanda and accuse it of involvement in the ongoing war in the East of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The Head of State once again returned to the issue of insecurity in the DRC on Thursday in a speech he delivered to those attending the swearing-in ceremony of newly appointed leaders.
The leaders who were sworn in were Solange Uwituze, who was appointed Secretary of State in the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, Dr Usta Kaitesi, who was appointed Secretary of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Dr Charles Murigande, who was appointed Senator.
Two judges of the Court of Appeal were also sworn in: Dr Ntete Jules Marius, Dr Nshimiyimana Didace.
In his speech to the ceremony’s attendees, which included members of the Government, Parliament, and foreign representatives in Rwanda, President Kagame returned to the issue of the DRC.
He said that the agreement was signed in Washington D.C. on December 4, 2025, and Rwanda participated in it willingly and with the intention of peace.
He said, “Rwanda signed the agreement willingly, accepts it and will abide by its requirements so that the agreement can be successful and others fulfill their obligations and lead us to peace.”
He continued, “but such a path is not easy and difficult, there are those who do not tell the truth, there are many things that people want, even those that are not even in the agreement or that they feel should be in the agreement because they see it. In the agreement, you do not see everything you want, but you see what is necessary and someone else sees what is necessary.”
When the agreement was signed, fighting in the DRC was ongoing, and after that, the AFC/M23 movement took over the city of Uvira.
Those who accuse Rwanda of supporting this movement, based on this, say that it has violated the peace agreement. Supporting the M23 is an accusation that Rwanda has repeatedly denied.
President Kagame said that Rwanda had not violated any agreements, because even when he was in the United States, fighting was taking place.
He said, “We were going to America at that time, in fact, it had been days, weeks, and even on the day we left, some people left here and there was fighting, and even in one part of it, they did not respect what was promised before the agreement we were going to sign.”
“So when we went there, it was there, it did not arise after the agreement, sometimes I see in documents, different people write that the agreement was violated by people, and it seems that we had already signed things that were in order and then we came back and that is when the fighting happened, that is not what I would say.”
Since the fighting resumed in the East of the DRC, Rwanda has announced that it has put in place security measures, so that nothing can cross into its territory.
President Kagame said that when he was in Washington D.C., some of the people he spoke to tried to convince him that Rwanda is strong, so that it does not need to worry about what is happening in the DRC.
He said, “Yesterday we were in Washington D.C., there were some people we were talking to, and I explained to them and they understood, but when you finished the conversation they came back and said, “You know Rwanda is strong, it’s like saying it’s strong, you should sit back and let these invaders attack you.”
“I tell you, in the history of mankind, as far as I know, in politics or anything else, I don’t understand what that means, I don’t understand it. The strength we have is limited, it’s even excessive, except that we have the ability to defend ourselves from enemies, which is considered part of our strength.”
President Kagame stressed that the problems attributed to Rwanda contain many lies and deceit.
“They did not create it”
The Head of State said that after the signing of the Washington Peace Accords, some countries continued to blame Rwanda for all its problems.
He said, “There are two people who signed the agreement, but the burden should be borne by one. If you want to be reasonable, at least you will not burden both of them, even if one of them is lying and accusing him of something that is not his.”
“Even now, there is still a flow of threats, it is not clear, but the threats, all the things that they are going to take Rwanda and destroy it, there is no number every day. Now I can’t sleep, some people are calling me every minute, here it starts somewhere else and the next day I continue.”
The Head of State indicated that no one should be worried about these threats because Rwanda was not created by humans.
He said, “After all, Rwanda was not created by humans. The one who created Rwanda is the one who created the entire world. The one who created the entire world did not go to the point of taking some people to create Rwanda for us. No, we also want to be created by the one who created the entire world. That would not be right.”
He said that despite this, Rwanda wants peace.
He said, “Above all, we want peace, we want peace, we will fight for it, and whoever wants peace prepares for things other than peace, it is to always be prepared, if things other than peace come, what do you do? You create ways to deal with them until peace appears.”
