Although Tshisekedi’s speech mainly focused on development projects and strengthening relations between Africa and Europe, he also took the opportunity to address his Rwandan counterpart, saying:

He said that “I am calling for peace, I am extending a hand, and I ask that this war come to an end.”

Rwanda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Olivier Nduhungirehe, responded through a post on X (Twitter), saying that Tshisekedi was mistaken and that he himself is the only one who can stop the war.

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Minister Nduhungirehe stated: “No, you are completely wrong on all levels. The only person who can stop this escalation of war is President Tshisekedi, and he alone.”

He added that Tshisekedi could do so by ending hate speech and acts of war, stopping threats to attack Rwanda or shell Kigali, ceasing support and hostility toward the FDLR, disarming the Wazalendo militia, ending reliance on Burundian troops and mercenaries, and stopping daily attacks on Banyamulenge civilians.

President Tshisekedi also stated in his speech that he had halted all efforts to impose sanctions on Rwanda. In his address to the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September, he had said that “the only thing that is certain is that when Rwanda is under pressure, dialogue with M23 moves faster.”

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Rwandan President Paul Kagame, in his own speech, did not mention the war in Congo, while Tshisekedi insists that lasting peace will only come when Kagame orders M23 to stop fighting.

The war in eastern DRC has lasted for more than three decades. It intensified earlier this year when the M23 rebel group  captured the cities of Goma and Bukavu in the Kivu province, while already controlling several other territories.

Both sides accuse each other of violating peace agreements. The latest escalation comes amid renewed fighting between M23 and Wazalendo, the armed groups that support the Congolese government against the rebels.

In July this year, M23 and the Congolese government reached agreements aimed at ending the conflict, but no tangible progress has been made so far.