The French president on Tuesday urged Rwanda to “cease all support” for the M23 rebellion in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and to “withdraw its forces” from the country, after a meeting with his Congolese counterpart who welcomed ” the greater commitment” of Paris.
Emmanuel Macron spoke during a joint press conference with President Félix Tshisekedi, received at the Elysée.
The head of state of the DRC has been in Paris since Monday for his first official visit to France, more than a year after a trip to Kinshasa by Mr. Macron, who spoke on Tuesday of a “particularly tragic context for the Congolese people “.
The east of the DRC is prey to the violence of numerous armed groups, including the M23 rebels (mainly Tutsi), supported by units of the Rwandan army, who have seized large swaths of the territory and almost entirely surround Goma , capital of the North Kivu province.
“France will never compromise on the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Democratic Republic of Congo,” insisted Mr. Macron. “The population of eastern DRC has suffered for three decades from armed conflicts, population displacements and foreign interference.”
“Rwanda, I reiterated to President Kagame in a recent exchange, must stop its support for the M23 and withdraw its forces from Congolese territory; the urgency is to de-escalate,” the French president once again insisted. However, he did not explicitly mention sanctions against Rwanda, which the DRC demanded.
During his visit to Kinshasa in March 2023, Emmanuel Macron did not clearly condemn Rwanda, but issued firm warnings, including in Kigali.
On Tuesday, the French head of state spoke of a “commitment” in Paris from the Congolese president to “put an end to the actions of the FDLR” (Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda), an armed group created by former Hutu leaders of the genocide of the Tutsi in Rwanda in 1994, and whose presence for 30 years in the east of the DRC has been denounced by Kigali.
This commitment has “value towards the Rwandans whom I am strong in convincing of a parallel withdrawal of their forces which have nothing to do on Congolese soil”, insisted Emmanuel Macron, urging to recall Rwandan President Paul Kagame “in the coming days”.
“Glimmer of hope”
Mr. Macron mentioned a sequencing which would therefore see “disarmament and supervision” of the FDLR on the one hand “and withdrawal of the Rwandan forces which are on Congolese soil” on the other hand, “then disarmament of the M23 and support process” .
Welcoming the Angolan mediation, he said he hoped “that by the end of the summer, we can have fully conclusive initiatives.”
In return, Félix Tshisekedi paid tribute to the French support to the press, welcoming “France’s even greater commitment alongside the Congolese people, especially in what we are suffering as an unjust war imposed on us by Rwanda, which supports the M23”.
“I think that with the discussions we had today, a glimmer of hope is on the horizon. (…) We can count on France, which will be at our side to find peace,” he said.
However, he clarified that it “will only be possible to discuss” with Rwanda once its army “has left” the DRC.
President Macron also underlined the desire of the two countries to “work together on a platform and a mechanism for the traceability of all minerals”.
The subsoil of the DRC is full of minerals, the country being the world’s leading producer of cobalt and the leading African producer of copper.
Kinshasa accuses Rwanda of wanting to take control of the resources, particularly mining, of eastern Congolese, one of the reasons why, according to him, Kigali supports the M23 rebellion.
President Tshisekedi’s visit also includes an important economic component. He was due to close a round table on business and investments between France and the DRC on Tuesday at the Ministry of Economy and Finance, highlighting the progress made in economic partnerships since the Kinshasa Economic Forum in March 2023.
“Between the DRC and France, a long-term win-win relationship has been established,” French Secretary of State for Development Chrysoula Zacharopoulou told AFP.
This relationship “continues to grow thanks to the doubling of funding from the French Development Agency (AFD) in priority projects for the DRC (environmental protection, education and health) and thanks to the commitment of French companies and European in the sectors that the DRC wants to grow”, she noted.
