“Accepting that you exist on the mercy of others is a mistake, it is something we should treat as unacceptable. We were not created by anyone, whoever they may be. No one owns us.
It doesn’t matter how powerful you are. It doesn’t matter how rich you are. It doesn’t matter how willing you are to use that power for the wrong ends. We, from a small country like Rwanda, we should be able to stand up to that.
They claim we are in Congo looking for minerals. That this is what causes our problems with Congo. They say our country, Rwanda is small and that we want to go into Congo to expand it.
But they try to avoid the real issue, which they also know, and in which they themselves are involved, concerning the Interahamwe militia who are in Congo. The Interahamwe were settled there. The Interahamwe were armed, both those who were already there and new ones, some were integrated into the Congolese army, while others operate alongside it.
How does the world expect us to behave? Just listen to them and do whatever they ask us to do, even if it is leading to our own destruction?” President Kagame | Umushyikirano 2026