By A Correspondent

Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame has accused South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa of dishonesty regarding their conversations about the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Kagame claims that Ramaphosa’s public statements about their discussions have been distorted and filled with lies.

“I held two conversations this week with President Ramaphosa on the situation in Eastern DRC, including earlier today.

What has been said about these conversations in the media by South African officials and President Ramaphosa himself contains a lot of distortion, deliberate attacks, and even lies,” Kagame stated.

Kagame clarified several points, including that the Rwanda Defence Force is a professional army, not a militia. “The Rwanda Defence Force is an army, not a militia,” he emphasized.

He also criticized the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Mission in the DRC (SAMIDRC), stating that it is not a peacekeeping force, but rather a belligerent force authorized to engage in combat operations. “SAMIDRC is not a peacekeeping force, and it has no place in this situation. It was authorized by SADC as a belligerent force engaging in offensive combat operations to help the DRC Government fight against its own people, working alongside genocidal armed groups like FDLR which target Rwanda, while also threatening to take the war to Rwanda itself.”

Kagame also denied that Ramaphosa had given him any warnings, saying, “President Ramaphosa has never given a ‘warning’ of any kind, unless it was delivered in his local language which I do not understand.”

Furthermore, Kagame revealed that Ramaphosa confirmed to him that the M23 rebels did not kill the South African soldiers, but rather the FARDC (Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo). “President Ramaphosa confirmed to me that M23 did not kill the soldiers from South Africa, FARDC did,” Kagame said.

Kagame emphasized that South Africa is not in a position to be a peacemaker or mediator in the conflict, stating, “If South Africa wants to contribute to peaceful solutions, that is well and good, but South Africa is in no position to take on the role of a peacemaker or mediator. And if South Africa prefers confrontation, Rwanda will deal with the matter in that context any day.”