Kagame: US sanctions won’t weaken Rwanda’s defence forces
Rwandan President Paul Kagame has defiantly declared that the sanctions imposed on Rwandan defence and security forces would not minimise its strength and integrity, emphasising: “They are among the finest that can be found anywhere”.
On March 2, the US department of the treasury’s office of foreign assets control announced it had imposed sanctions on the Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) and four of its senior officials on accusations of actively supporting, training and fighting alongside the M23 rebels.
Kagame denies the accusations but acknowledges that Rwanda has put in place defensive measures to protect its country and its citizens from threats posed by militia group FDLR. It was formed by remnants of the perpetrators of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.
The FDLR has launched several incursions into Rwanda, attacking citizens and infrastructure in its attempts to destabilise the country and seize power.
When the genocidal government collapsed in July 1994, the soldiers and militias fled across the border into the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), forcing millions of civilians along with them.
Inside the camps, they reorganised themselves and launched a sustained cross-border insurgency against Rwanda, claiming tens of thousands more lives.
Rwanda’s western border was fully secured by the end of the 1990s, through the combined efforts of the army with the help of residents from the affected areas.
Kagame said Rwanda had maintained defensive measures to ensure that the FDLR did not attack his country again.
“And since then, our defensive measures have been aimed at ensuring that such attacks can never again be made across our borders,” the tough-talking Kagame told thousands of people gathered at the Kigali Genocide Memorial on Tuesday to mark the 32nd commemoration of the Genocide against the Tutsi (Kwibuka32).
He lamented how US sanctions had been imposed against Rwanda’s security services because of the defensive measures, pointing out that penalising Rwanda for defending itself only emboldened those who threatened the country.
“Indeed, no sanction or insult from outside can ever tarnish the honour and integrity of Rwanda’s defence and security forces, who are among the finest that can be found anywhere,” Kagame said, promising to raise the matter further.
There are concerns that the FDLR and other militias in the eastern DRC are spreading genocidal ideology, hate speech and are targeting Congolese Tutsi and the Balamulenge in what UN officials has described as another genocide.
Kagame raised concerns about regional challenges, particularly Congolese refugees being displaced by the FDLR genocidal militia in eastern DRC.
“Even today, the international community is ignoring refugees. Yet the UN has adopted many resolutions identifying the FDLR as a terrorist group that should be dismantled.”
The FDLR was also accused of aspiring to take over Rwanda through force and continue with the genocide against the Tutsi.
“What we ask is for partners to join with us to fight extremism rather than punishing Rwanda for defending itself,” Kagame said. “We cannot afford to repeat the mistakes of the past. Genocide ideology is still spreading in our region. Left unchecked, it has the power to take us all backwards again.”
That was not a problem that should be left to Rwanda alone, he said. “Doing so only rewards those behind the threats, while Rwanda is penalised for standing up for itself.
“Imagine a farmer whose field catches fire. At first, the flames are small. A few neighbours think it does not concern them. Others say the wind will change and the fire will die out on its own. So they watch and wait. But the wind does not change. Meanwhile, a pyromaniac is secretly adding fuel to the fire. So, the fire spreads from one field to another and then into the forest and the towns and beyond.
“Only then do people run with buckets of water and call for the establishment of a fire department.”
Kagame noted that there were others who incorrectly believed that Rwanda exaggerated the threats posed by the continued spread of genocide ideology and hate speech for ulterior motives.
“This is not only false; it exposes the deep cynicism that led to the tragedy we commemorate today. What sustains Rwanda today is the unity of Rwandans and the conviction that like all people, we have the right to live in safety and dignity and at peace with all our neighbours.”
There was a need to ensure that Rwanda would be secure and peaceful for future generations, said Kagame. “We owe future generations of Rwandans more than survival. They deserve to inherit a secure, united and bold country and an integrated and confident Africa.”
Kagame led the RPF/RPA in stopping the genocide and liberating Rwanda from the extremist regime that had organised and executed the genocide against the Tutsi.
That was a simple truth of history, Kagame said, noting however that many had reservations about acknowledging it.
Kagame warned against the dangers of genocide denial and historical distortion, stressing that the facts of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi were well-documented and could not be erased.
The facts of the genocide had been established by international courts and the Gacaca court process, which produced millions of records across the country. “The proof is undeniable. And yet, we still find people throwing doubt and twisting the facts up to today,” Kagame said.
Genocide denial began long before massacres started, through a pattern of ignoring warning signs and normalising dangerous rhetoric.
“Speech turns into hate acts. Behaviour that should be immediately condemned is rationalised and minimised … In the process, a moral equivalence is created between the targets of the genocide and the planners of it.”
He rejected claims that the genocide against the Tutsi was spontaneous, emphasising that it was systematically planned, with militias trained, weapons stockpiled and dissenters silenced.
Kagame added that early massacres were used to normalise killings while the international community largely remained indifferent.