Rwanda’s Foreign Minister Rejects ICGLR Resolutions on Eastern DRC Conflict

Rwanda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Ambassador Olivier Nduhungirehe, has dismissed the latest resolutions adopted by the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) concerning the conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The ICGLR summit, held on 15 November 2025 in Kinshasa, saw member states grant President Félix Tshisekedi the mandate to lead the organization. According to DRC’s Minister for Regional Integration, Floribert Anzuluni, the heads of state condemned the M23 rebel group and urged “the aggressor state to completely withdraw its troops from the DRC.”

However, Minister Nduhungirehe said the resolutions were irrelevant and lacked legitimacy, arguing that Rwanda’s absence from the summit rendered the conclusions one-sided and detached from the realities of the conflict.

“The conclusions of the ICGLR meeting held in Kinshasa last week, in the absence of Rwanda - which elected Tshisekedi as the new President of this organization based in Bujumbura - are completely irrelevant to the issues related to the conflict in eastern DRC,” he said.

Nduhungirehe emphasized that the ongoing diplomatic efforts in Washington and Doha are the only meaningful pathways toward resolving the crisis. Talks between Rwanda and the DRC in the United States, along with negotiations between the DRC government and AFC/M23 in Qatar, he said, remain the most credible initiatives.

“For this reason, only the Washington and Doha peace processes, supported by the African Union, truly seek a lasting solution to the conflict in eastern DRC,” the minister noted.

His remarks came as both dialogue tracks reached promising stages. On November 7, Rwanda and the DRC signed a comprehensive economic cooperation agreement. One week later, on November 15, the DRC government and the AFC/M23 agreed on a set of basic principles aimed at paving the way for sustainable peace.

The progress made in Washington and Doha, Nduhungirehe added, offers renewed hope for stability in a region long plagued by cycles of violence.