KAGAME: "YOU CAN'T EXPECT ONLY ONE PARTY TO FULFILL OBLIGATIONS".[Courtesy]
President Paul Kagame said the U.S. cannot expect Rwanda alone to fulfill the obligations of the Washington Accords while other parties face no equivalent pressure pushing back against sanctions imposed on Rwanda’s military on March 2.
The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned the Rwanda Defense Force and four of its senior commanders, including Army Chief of Staff Major General Vincent Nyakarundi, Chief of Defense Staff Mubarakh Muganga, Major General Ruki Karusisi, and Special Operations Force Commander Stanislas Gashugi, citing their alleged support for M23 rebels in eastern DRC.
In his Jeune Afrique interview, Kagame said, “You can’t come up and expect that only one party will fulfill their part of the obligation and the other is to be considered somehow, sometime, or not at all.” He said the United States, as a mediator, also carries obligations. “They are also obliged to make sure that they are really pushing Congo and Rwanda in the right direction evenly,” he said. “If you pick and choose and one morning you say, ‘I will go with this one,’ then there is a problem. It just won’t give good results.”
Rwanda’s government spokesperson, Yolande Makolo, said in a statement that the sanctions “unjustly” target Rwanda and “misrepresent the reality and distort the facts of the conflict,” accusing the DRC of conducting indiscriminate drone strikes and ground offensives in violation of the agreement. On whether he plans to comply with the U.S. demand for immediate troop withdrawal, Kagame did not give a direct yes or no. He instead returned to his position that Rwanda will not act unilaterally while its security concerns remain unaddressed.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the department would use all tools at its disposal to ensure parties to the Washington Accords uphold their obligations and called for the immediate withdrawal of RDF troops, weapons, and equipment.
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