Rwandan President Paul Kagame has strongly criticized his South African counterpart, Cyril Ramaphosa, following allegations that Rwanda is backing the M23 rebels responsible for the escalating crisis in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Kagame accused Ramaphosa of “lying” and warned of potential “confrontation.”
South Africa currently has troops stationed in the DRC as part of a United Nations peacekeeping mission, as well as a separate deployment under the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to support Congolese forces battling rebel groups.
However, Pretoria faces mounting pressure after 13 South African soldiers were killed amid a recent surge in fighting. The M23 militia—widely accused of receiving support from Rwanda—has rapidly advanced, gaining partial control of the strategic city of Goma in North Kivu province on Sunday night.
In a written statement on Wednesday, Ramaphosa held the M23 and what he described as “a Rwandan Defense Force militia” responsible for the casualties. South Africa’s Minister of Defense, Angie Motshekga, went further, stating:
“It’s just that at that stage, when they were firing above our heads, the president did warn them to say, ‘If you are going to fire, we’ll take it as a declaration of war.’”
Fellow South Africans,
Following the recent intensification of fighting in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Africa has lost 13 brave soldiers who were dedicated to their mission and committed to peace. The fighting is the result of an escalation by the rebel…
— Cyril Ramaphosa (@CyrilRamaphosa) January 29, 2025
These remarks have sparked a diplomatic dispute with Kigali.
Kagame issued a forceful response in a social media post on Wednesday night, rejecting the claims and stating:
“If South Africa prefers confrontation, Rwanda will deal with the matter in that context any day.”
I held two conversations this week with President Ramaphosa on the situation in Eastern DRC, including earlier today. What has been said about these conversations in the media by South African officials and President Ramaphosa himself contains a lot of distortion, deliberate… https://t.co/i78aqtVjpr
— Paul Kagame (@PaulKagame) January 29, 2025
He also refuted Ramaphosa’s characterization of the fallen South African soldiers as “peacekeepers,” arguing that the SADC force was engaged in “offensive combat operations.”
“I spoke with the president of South Africa, who sought me out to speak with me on this matter because of their involvement in eastern Congo, and he’s also there pretending to be playing a peacemaker role. M23 are not Rwandans, please, and South Africa dares even issue threats,” Kagame said.
South African Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola directly blamed Rwanda for supporting the M23, citing U.N. reports as evidence of Kigali’s involvement. Speaking on Wednesday, he stated that South Africa had engaged in an African Union meeting on the crisis.
“As South Africa, we participated in that platform and put our position across, which is that there is a ceasefire, immediate cessation of hostilities… and, also, to request all the forces that are supporting M23 to cease all support immediately,” he said.
Eastern Congo, which shares a border with Rwanda, has been plagued by conflict for over three decades. The current tensions are partly linked to the 1994 Rwandan genocide, after which perpetrators fled into North Kivu. Rwanda argues that these groups continue to pose a security threat to its territory.
The Congolese government, meanwhile, accuses Kigali of military involvement in the region, claiming Rwanda is motivated by the DRC’s vast mineral wealth.
