Rwanda’s president says he doesn’t know if his country’s troops are in DRC

Rwandan President Paul Kagame has told CNN he doesn’t know if his country’s troops are in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where fighting between the M23 armed group and Congolese soldiers has killed more than 700 people and injured thousands in recent days.

Much of the international community believes that Rwanda backs the M23 rebels, who claimed to capture the city of Goma in eastern Congo last week. UN experts believe that an estimated 3,000 – 4,000 Rwandan soldiers are supervising and supporting M23 fighters in the east of the DRC, outnumbering the rebel group’s forces in the country.

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In an exclusive interview with CNN’s Larry Madowo on Monday, Kagame was asked if there were any Rwandan troops inside the DRC.

“I don’t know,” Kagame said, despite the fact that he is commander-in-chief of the Rwandan Defence Force.

“There are many things I don’t know. But if you want to ask me, is there a problem in Congo that concerns Rwanda? And that Rwanda would do anything to protect itself? I’d say 100%,” he continued.

DRC communications minister, Patrick Muyaya, told CNN Monday that Rwanda’s military presence in his country was well documented, saying, “Kagame is the only voice denying this.”

“In the past 10 days, the UN Group of Experts, the UN Security Council, the UN Secretary-General, President João Lourenço (of Angola), and SADC (the Southern African Development Community) have all confirmed Rwanda’s military presence in eastern DRC. Kagame is the only voice denying this,” Muyaya said in his response to Kagame’s CNN interview, adding that “the overwhelming international consensus leaves no doubt.”

Madowo also told Kagame that comparisons have been made between him and Russian President Vladimir Putin, who backed local separatist forces to try and invade Donbas, an eastern region of Ukraine, in 2014.

“There will be so many stories,” Kagame said of the comparison, adding that he can’t “stop people from saying whatever they want to say.”

“I may be called anything – what can I do about it?” he asked. “We have to do what we have to do… we have to make sure we survive any storm that blows across our country.”

Kagame called the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), one of the largest foreign armed groups operating in the DRC, an “existential threat” to Rwanda. He alleged that the group was fully integrated into the Congolese armed forces, suggesting that other governments in the region also support the rebel group.

Kagame repeatedly insisted that Rwanda will do “whatever it takes” to protect itself, without giving much information about what this entails.

“Nobody,” including the United Nations or the international community “is going to do it for us,” the leader said.

When asked again if he was sending troops to the DRC, Kagame said that Rwanda will do “anything to protect itself,” telling Madowo to “read whatever you want to read from what I’m telling you.”