After Hitler comparison: Rwanda-DR Congo relations continue to deteriorate Egypt’s presidential elections begin – the country is in the middle of an economic crisis

Tensions between the presidents of the Democratic Republic of Congo and neighboring Rwanda, which have been going on for years, have further escalated this weekend. A spokeswoman for Rwandan leader Paul Kagame responded sharply on Sunday to a campaign speech by his Congolese colleague Félix Tshisekedi, in which he compared Kagame to Hitler.

At a campaign rally in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s restive east, Tshisekedi accused the Rwandan head of state of pursuing expansion goals similar to Hitler’s. But he will tell Kagame that if he wants to act like Hitler, “he will end up like Hitler.”

Tshisekedi has repeatedly accused Rwanda of supporting rebels in the east of his country, something the country has always denied. Tshisekedi has also described Rwandan leader Kagame as an “enemy of the Democratic Republic of Congo”.

Kagame spokeswoman Yolande Makolo spoke of a “clear threat”. It is part of a series of “provocations with which the DR Congo president wants to divert attention from his security and governance failures,” Makolo told the AFP news agency on Sunday.

Kagame has been the dominant political figure in Rwanda since the end of the 1994 genocide, in which about 800,000 people were killed by Hutu extremists who targeted the Tutsi minority.

Fierce fighting in the East

The eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, which borders Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi, has been plagued for years by bitter fighting between pro-government militias and the rebel movement M23. This has captured large areas of land since the start of an offensive at the end of 2021.

According to Kinshasa and several Western countries, the group, which largely consists of members of the Tutsi ethnic group, is supported by Rwanda. Kigali rejects this. Tshisekedi had previously described Rwanda as a “terrible neighbor” that wanted to seize the resources in the east of his country.

Presidential elections are scheduled for December 20 in DR Congo. Tshisekedi, who has been head of state since the controversial elections in 2019, is running for a second mandate. (lak/sda/afp)