Kagame says Habyarimana's son travelled to Kinshasa to deepen ties with FDLR
President Paul Kagame has condemned the continued collaboration between DR Congo and the FDLR, raising concerns that this alliance now includes the family of former Rwandan leader Juvenal Habyarimana, whose leadership led Rwanda to the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.
Speaking on Friday, March 6, as he hosted the diplomatic dinner, the President said Rwanda would maintain its national security policy to deal with the terrorist group, which was created by the remnants of the former Rwandan army and the Interahamwe militia responsible for the Genocide.
"In the late 1990s, cross-border attacks by this militia from the territory of DRC claimed thousands of lives inside Rwanda," he said.
"The Congolese government has provided political cover and financial support to FDLR and integrated this group into its military structures from where it now operates with total impunity. They attacked Rwanda on multiple occasions. Some countries issued travel advisories as a result."
He also spoke about recent videos showing Habyarimana's son Jean Luc travelling to Kinshasa in 2025.
"Lately, the son of the former leader of Rwanda, who led this country into genocide, and other close collaborators have been visiting Kinshasa in order to deepen the alliance with FDLR and they have more or less openly been welcomed there," he said.
Rwanda has in recent years expressed its concerns about regime change threats by DR Congo's President Felix Tshisekedi.
"We have consistently raised these issues in any in every relevant forum and directly to many of you here. But each time the root causes and structural drivers of this conflict are dismissed in favor of short-term measures and interests," Kagame said.
"Rwanda, because of its history and its geography, requires defensive borders. Our defensive measures are aimed at this objective and nothing else."
While Congolese government officials often say the FDLR is small group or even deny its existence, the President noted it not attacks Rwanda, it also threatens Congolese communities.
"FDLR is far from being a spent force ... In fact, its genocide ideology has been spread to other armed groups which also target Congolese Tutsi and other communities," he said.
Despite Kinshasa's signing of the Washington Accords in December 2025, committing to the neutralisation of the FDLR, Kagame said the militia is still embedded with the Congolese army and continues to target Congolese Tutsi communities.
"Rwanda is strong and strong enough in our own circumstances and precisely because we consider ourselves vulnerable to ideologies of violence, of violent ethnic extremism, particularly when they benefit from direct or indirect state support," he said.
"We have made a promise to ourselves to never go back to the dark days. To that darkness we can't go back, and that is not something we will waver from."
