Speaking at a press conference in Kigali, Kagame accused the Congolese government of arming and integrating FDLR fighters into its forces, allegations Kinshasa has previously disputed.
“Rwanda’s problem has always been the FDLR in Congo. I can repeat it 100 times,” Kagame said.
“If this problem of the FDLR is not resolved, Rwanda will always remain involved. There are no two ways about it.”
The FDLR was formed by Rwandan Hutu extremists, including figures linked to the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi, who fled into eastern Congo after the genocide.
Kigali has for decades described the group’s continued presence near its border as a direct national-security threat.
Kagame challenged countries pressing Rwanda to disengage from the Congo crisis to first dismantle the militia.
“If anybody keeps saying ‘Rwanda, Rwanda, Rwanda’ and doesn’t want Rwanda to have anything to say in this, why don’t you remove this problem and see whether Rwanda was using it as an excuse?” he said.
The president also criticised international sanctions targeting Rwanda and people accused of supporting the AFC/M23 rebellion, arguing that foreign governments were punishing those fighting the FDLR while failing to act decisively against the militia and its alleged collaborators.
“Instead of sanctioning the FDLR, or those who collaborate with them or support them, they sanction those who fight them,” Kagame said. “I do not understand this logic.”
The United States has imposed sanctions on Rwanda’s military and senior officers over allegations that Kigali supported M23 and violated commitments under the Washington peace process.
Rwanda has denied controlling M23 and says international pressure has largely ignored the security threat posed by the FDLR.
Kinshasa and United Nations experts have accused Rwanda of deploying troops and sophisticated military equipment in support of M23, which controls significant territory in North and South Kivu.
The Congolese government maintains that any collaboration between members of its forces and the FDLR does not justify Rwanda’s military involvement inside the country.
Kagame said former FDLR combatants undergoing rehabilitation at Rwanda’s Mutobo Demobilisation and Reintegration Centre had provided accounts showing that the armed group was embedded in and supported by Congolese security structures.
“We have evidence because we have people here — former FDLR combatants who have been part of all those efforts,” he said.
“Some came back home on their own or were captured in Congo, and they are telling the same story.”
He said representatives of the United Nations, the United States and European governments had visited the centre and interviewed former combatants directly.
The dispute over the FDLR remains a central obstacle to implementing the peace agreement signed by Rwanda and Congo in Washington in 2025.
The accord links the neutralisation of the militia to Rwanda’s withdrawal of what the agreement describes as defensive measures in eastern Congo.
The two governments have since traded accusations over the sequencing and implementation of those commitments
Kagame’s remarks came as ceasefire monitors began deploying in eastern Congo under a Qatar-mediated framework intended to reduce fighting between Congolese forces and AFC/M23.
The deployment is the first field operation under the monitoring mechanism, but continuing disputes over armed groups and foreign military involvement threaten the wider peace process.
