frosty relations

DRC-Rwanda: Is history repeating itself?

By Yann Gwet

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Posted on December 20, 2022 16:32

© President of Democratic Republic of Congo Felix Tshisekedi and President of Rwanda Paul Kagame in Kigali, Rwanda on June 25, 2021. (Photo by Habimana Thierry / ANADOLU AGENCY / Anadolu Agency via AFP) — President of Democratic Republic of Congo Felix Tshisekedi and President of Rwanda Paul Kagame in Kigali, Rwanda on June 25, 2021. (Photo by Habimana Thierry / ANADOLU AGENCY / Anadolu Agency via AFP)

Is history repeating itself? On 4 July 1994, the military forces of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), led by Paul Kagame, seized Kigali. The Rwandan army, which had just committed genocide, was defeated.

The government that had organised and supervised the execution of the massacres was in disarray.

Panicked, the Rwandan population, including the infamous Interahamwe militia, went into exile, strongly encouraged by the deposed political and military authorities.

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