Kagame tells countries sanctioning Rwanda to ‘go to hell’
KIGALI, Rwanda (AFP)— Rwandan President Paul Kagame said Monday that countries sanctioning Kigali could “go to hell”, weeks after some nations imposed the measures over Rwanda’s involvement in the eastern DR Congo conflict.
The Rwandan-backed M23 group has taken swathes of the Democratic Republic of Congo, seizing and holding the eastern regional capitals Goma and Bukavu, to international condemnation.
United Nations experts have estimated that Rwanda has around 4,000 troops in the country supporting the M23.
The European Union issued sanctions against three Rwandan commanders in March, following a similar decision by Washington in February against a government minister.
“If anyone comes around, and thinks they can, you know, they come and say ‘hey we’re going to sanction you’. What? Go to hell,” Kagame told an audience during an event marking the beginning of commemorations for the 1994 genocide.
“You have your own issues to deal with, go and deal with your own issues, leave me to mine,” he said, without mentioning any specific countries.
Britain, Canada and Germany have also suspended some aid and limited export permits for trade.
M23 recently took the town of Walikale, the furthest west it has pushed since its previous offensive in 2012.
But its fighters later withdrew from the town in what was described by a source close to peace talks held in Doha as a gesture of goodwill.
A Kinshasa delegation met M23 representatives in Qatar earlier this month, according to the source with knowledge of the talks.
Last month, DRC President Felix Tshisekedi and Kagame “reaffirmed their commitment to an immediate and unconditional ceasefire” after a surprise meeting in Doha organised by Qatar.
The DRC’s enormous mineral reserves are critical to global supplies of lithium and cobalt, used in cell batteries and electric vehicles, tantalum, tin and gold used in electronic devices.
But they have also fuelled and financed the multiple rebellions and conflicts that have gripped the eastern part of the vast African country for years.
