Rwanda President Paul Kagame accuses South Africa of working with rebel group in DR Congo

Paul Kagame has opened fire with South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa

Rwanda President Paul Kagame has pointed accusing fingers at South Africa for working with a rebel group in DR Congo to further distablise the East African nation.

Rebel group M23 have captured the Eastern Congo town of Goma and maintain control of its airport as regional tensions hikes with casualties rising on a daily basis.

Tensions between DR Congo and Rwanda have been reignited following the capture of Goma by the M23 rebels who are allegedly being backed by Kagame and his Rwandan administration.

Over 273,000 people have been displaced by the ongoing conflict in the country which is causing major problems in the region.

The takeover by the M23 group has heightened the one of Africa’s most protracted humanitarian and security crises.

Meanwhile, Kagame has pointed accusing fingers at the South African organisation – Southern African Development Mission in Congo (SAMIDRC) for pretending to work in the interest of revolving the problems within the region.

Kagame has blamed the Southern African Development Community Mission in Congo (SAMIDRC) of working with the rebel group Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), with the permission of Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi. The FDLR is active in Congo and was formed by surviving perpetrators of the Rwandan genocide in 1994 – making the group a threat to Kagame.

The SAMIDRC was deployed to the eastern DRC in December 2023 to restore peace and security amid growing instability in the mineral-rich area. It is made up of around 2,900 troops from Malawi, South Africa and Tanzania.

In a statement issued on Thursday, January 30, 2025, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa alleged that the Rwandan Defence Force and the M23 Rebel Group are responsible for the death of 13 SAMIDRC soldiers in the raging conflict.