Rwanda warns it will not repatriate DRC’s defeated mercenaries again

Rwanda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Amb. Olivier Nduhungirehe, has strongly condemned recent remarks made by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), who announced that their government would continue to employ mercenaries in the ongoing conflict.

Minister Nduhungirehe stressed that the use of mercenaries violates international law, citing the 1977 OAU/AU Convention and the 1989 UN Convention, both of which prohibit the recruitment and deployment of mercenaries.

He recalled that in January 2025, Romanian mercenaries fighting alongside the Congolese army (FARDC) were defeated in the city of Goma and later repatriated with Rwanda’s assistance. “And I hope Rwanda will not be asked again to help repatriate other defeated mercenaries,” he said.

The Foreign Minister further revealed that the Congolese government has now resorted to hiring Colombian mercenaries through Blackwater, a private military company linked to Erik Prince. He noted that such practices undermine international peace agreements, including the Washington Peace Agreement and the Doha Declaration of Principles, both of which were designed to seek lasting solutions to insecurity in eastern Congo.

Rwanda maintains that the use of mercenaries cannot resolve Congo’s security crisis but instead risks fueling further instability in the region.