Rwanda Blasts ‘Baseless’ Genocide Allegations At UN Human Rights Council
Rwanda has issued a strong rebuttal rejecting allegations by the Democratic Republic of Congo that it is backing armed groups and complicit in genocidal acts in the troubled east of the country.
Addressing the 60th Session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Tuesday, Rwanda’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office in Geneva, Ambassador Urujeni Bakuramutsa, accused Kinshasa of peddling unfounded claims and weaponizsng genocide accusations to divert attention from its own failures.
“We will not accept being continuously subjected to baseless accusations,” Bakuramutsa said.
She stressed that linking Rwanda to M23 rebels or genocide required verifiable evidence, not what she described as “fabricated reports.”
Her remarks came after DR Congo’s Minister of Human Rights alleged Rwanda’s complicity in atrocities in North Kivu, where UN experts and Human Rights Watch have accused Kigali of supporting M23 rebels.
Bakuramutsa warned that accusing Rwanda of genocide was a grave provocation.
“It’s a red line, Mr President, for my country to be accused of genocide… I will not allow for that to be mentioned here in the UN premises and accept that this happens under your watch,” she told the Council president.
The ambassador invoked Rwanda’s painful past, reminding delegates of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in which more than a million people were killed.
She argued that invoking genocide allegations against Kigali was irresponsible and risked trivialising international law.
Bakuramutsa further accused DR Congo of enabling the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a militia with roots in the perpetrators of the 1994 genocide, to continue spreading violence and genocidal ideology in the region.
She also questioned the effectiveness of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, saying its ballooning costs had failed to deliver peace or protect civilians.
“The UN’s costliest mission cannot be measured by reports,” she said, calling for accountability based on concrete facts rather than political narratives.
The exchange comes amid continuing tensions between Kigali and Kinshasa, with cross-border skirmishes and a humanitarian crisis deepening in eastern Congo.
Kinshasa and Kigali fell into deep diplomatic halls when the M23 group captured North Kivu capital of Goma in January and overran swathes of the mineral-rich eastern DR Congo.
The group has since established a parallel government and claims to have restored social amenities to its populace while generating huge revenues from mineral trade.
By Nile Post.
