Rwanda’s Government Spokesperson, Yolande Makolo, said the Washington Agreement requires the dismantling of the FDLR, not entering into agreements with it, as the Congolese government has done.
Makolo made the statement after her DRC counterpart, Government Spokesperson Patrick Muyaya, announced that Congo had signed an agreement with the FDLR aimed at disarming the group.
Muyaya, who also serves as DRC’s Minister of Communication and Media, said: “In accordance with the Washington agreements and the Conops attached to them, the FDLR have signed a protocol for disarmament, demobilization, and cantonment through sensitization.”
Rwanda’s spokesperson reminded Congolese authorities that signing an agreement with the FDLR has nothing to do with what the agreement between the two countries actually requires.
She said: “The Washington Agreement calls for the neutralisation of the FDLR, not a negotiated protocol with a genocidal militia that the DRC government continues to arm and collaborate with.”
Makolo said the continued statements about the FDLR voluntarily disarming, while the group keeps collaborating with the Congolese government, amount to a farce.
“Voluntary ‘disarmament’ announcements while the FDLR remains embedded in the Congolese army and active on the frontlines change nothing. Implementation means verifiable dismantlement, not theatre,” she said.
“Rwanda remains focused on implementation of the agreement. Our region deserves real security and stability, not paper exercises,” she said.
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Amb. Olivier Nduhungirehe, also addressed the Congolese government’s actions on Wednesday, saying that Congo’s signing of an agreement with the FDLR confirms the group remains under Congo’s protection, “like a parent and its child.
Amb. Nduhungirehe reminded Patrick Muyaya that Congo’s agreement with the FDLR has no basis in the accord signed in Washington on 4 December 2025, which instead calls for dismantling the group, rather than turning around to give it a seat at the negotiating table.
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