With his visit to Rwanda, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken ended a diplomatic tour on Thursday marking the return of the United States to the game of influence on the African continent. This last stage was undoubtedly the most closely scrutinized by the international community and the most delicate for the American diplomat who, upon his arrival, broached a sensitive subject with President Paul Kagame: the situation in eastern DRC, very weakened by the M23 terrorist group.
Chance of the calendar or not, this visit came a few days after the leak of the report of United Nations experts, according to which the Rwandan army had “launched military interventions against Congolese armed groups and positions of the Congolese Armed Forces” since November 2021 and until June 2022.
Even if Kigali denies any intervention in the DRC, these accusations of interference are more and more frequent and undermine bilateral relations with Rwanda, which seems to be increasingly moving away from its status as a strategic ally of the United States. United in the region.
Through the voice of its spokesman Patrick Muyaya, the Congolese government said it expected the United States to “condemn Rwanda as an aggressor country of the DRC”. The US Secretary of State did not openly speak of aggression but nevertheless sent very clear messages to the Rwandan authorities.
“We have discussed credible reports which indicate that Rwanda continues to support the M23 rebel group and has its own forces in the DRC (…) Each country in the region must respect the territorial integrity of the others”, he declared during a press conference following his meeting with the Rwandan President.
A few hours earlier in Kinshasa, the former adviser to Barack Obama said that the United States was “very concerned by credible reports that Rwanda has supported the M23. We call on all parties in the region to cease all support , any cooperation with the M23 or other non-state armed groups.”
The report of the United Nations group of experts submitted to the Security Council had leaked a few days after the publication of that of Human Rights Watch (HRW) which also confirmed the incursion of Rwanda and its complicity with the M23 in the commission of crimes against the Congolese population.
Ahead of the US Secretary of State’s visit to Africa, the international NGO had also called on Antony Blinken to “affirm that the United States will impose targeted sanctions on government officials and other people who support armed groups who commit abuse.”
A visit also marked by the theme of human rights.
US concern for Rwanda does not end with the security situation in North Kivu. Antony Blinken took advantage of his meeting with President Paul Kagame to express his “serious concerns” on the issue of human rights.
Among other things, he addressed the fate of Paul Rusesabagina, permanent resident of the United States and made famous by the film “Hotel Rwanda” who was sentenced last September to 25 years in prison for eight terrorism charges linked to an organization opposed to the regime of President Paul Kagame.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) and other international organizations had also called for an American position on the issue of human rights, calling on the Secretary of State to “urgently state that there would be consequences for the repression and government abuses in Rwanda and beyond”.
“As I said to President Kagame, we believe that people in all countries should be able to express their opinions without fear of intimidation, imprisonment, violence or any other form of repression,” the diplomat said. American following his meeting with the Rwandan Head of State.
This subject is very present in the discussions in Washington and is seen as an authoritarian drift for many political figures. At the end of July, Robert Menendez, chairman of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, even called for a reconsideration of the amount of American aid sent to Rwanda:
An African tour to launch the new American strategy on the continent
This visit under high tension came to punctuate the visit of the Secretary of State to sub-Saharan Africa which was also marked by the announcement of the new African policy of the United States. Washington intends to implement a real partnership and not an “unbalanced or transactional relationship”. After the Europe-Africa Summit and the Forum on Sino-African Cooperation, Antony Blinken confirmed that the United States will organize a USA-Africa Summit on December 13 in the American capital. With or without Paul Kagame?
