Rwanda denounces Congo-FDLR ‘protocol’
Rwanda on Wednesday rejected the Congolese government’s announcement that the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a Rwandan armed group present in Congo, had signed a disarmament protocol, calling it a “manipulation” and a delaying tactic to avoid neutralizing the group as stipulated under the Washington-brokered peace deal.
Congolese government spokesperson Patrick Muyaya said earlier Wednesday in a post on US social media company X that, in accordance with the Washington Accords, the FDLR had signed a protocol covering disarmament, demobilization and cantonment.
Muyaya described it as a major step in implementing the commitments made under the peace agreement signed in Washington between Congo and Rwanda.
However, Rwandan Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe said in response that the protocol between the Congolese government and the FDLR was not provided for anywhere under the Washington Accords.
He also stressed that the FDLR was not a signatory to the Washington deal but rather the subject of its security provisions.
“This is therefore a crude manipulation by Kinshasa, a delaying tactic by the DRC to try to avoid its primary security obligation,” the minister asserted.
In December 2025, Rwandan President Paul Kagame and his Congolese counterpart Felix Tshisekedi signed a peace and economic agreement in Washington brokered by US President Donald Trump, seeking to end violence in Congo’s restive eastern region.
Under the deal, Rwanda agreed to withdraw its troops from eastern Congo as part of security measures that Kigali describes as defensive.
Both countries also pledged to cease support for militias and non-state armed groups, including the FDLR.
However, a year since the signing of the deal, the debate over FDLR security threat remains one of the defining issues.
Kagame has said Rwanda’s security concerns stem from the continued presence of the FDLR in Congo and its extremist ideology.
The Congolese military last year ordered FDLR members to disarm and surrender as efforts continued to end violence in the country.
The military directed them to surrender to Congolese authorities or the UN mission in Congo (MONUSCO) pending repatriation to Rwanda.
According to Nduhungirehe, since the signing of the Washington Accords, the government in Kinshasa had intensified its military support for the armed group, an allegation Congo denies.
