U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Rwanda, the last stop on his three-nation tour of Africa where he has articulated Washingtonโs new strategy for engaging with sub-Saharan African nations as โequal partners.โ
Blinken comes to Rwanda at a particularly difficult time for Africaโs Great Lakes region, with the small central African nation at odds with vast neighbor Congo over allegations that both governments support rebels opposed to each other.
In a meeting Thursday with Rwandan President Paul Kagame, Blinken is expected to discuss efforts to ease the tensions.
Rwanda is rejecting a new report by United Nations experts saying they have โsolid evidenceโ that members of Rwandaโs armed forces are conducting operations in eastern Congo in support of the M23 rebel group.
Rwandan authorities in turn accuse Congo of giving refuge to ethnic Hutu fighters who played roles in Rwandaโs 1994 genocide that killed ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus. There have long been tensions between the countries. In the late 1990s, Rwanda twice sent its forces deep into Congo, joining forces with rebel leader Laurent Kabila to depose the countryโs longtime dictator Mobutu Sese Seko.
Both Rwanda and Congo deny the charges of backing rebel groups, and Rwandan authorities have rejected the latest report by U.N. experts as a move โto distract from real issues.โ Rwanda also asserts that its security needs cannot be met while armed fugitives from the genocide continue to operate from inside Congolese territory.
A meeting between Kagame and Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi in Angola on July 6 produced a statement calling for a return to normal diplomatic relations, a cessation of hostilities and the โimmediate and unconditional withdrawalโ of the M23 from its positions in eastern Congo.
But M23, which comprises mostly ethnic Tutsis from Congo, continues to hold its positions near the border with Uganda, keeping the spotlight on Rwanda.
The chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee in a letter to Blinken last month called for a comprehensive review of U.S. policy toward Rwanda and noted his concern that Washingtonโs support for Rwanda, widely described by human right groups as authoritarian and repressive, is not in line with U.S. values.
The State Department said Blinken in Rwanda also will raise democracy and human rights concerns, including transnational repression and the limited space for the opposition.
Paul Rusesabagina, a permanent resident of the U.S. who is jailed in Rwanda after his conviction last year on terror-related charges, also is on the agenda. Rusesabagina, who achieved fame with the film โHotel Rwandaโ for sheltering ethnic Tutsis during the genocide, was a recipient of the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom.
In a statement ahead of Blinkenโs visit, Rwandaโs government said it โlooks forward to a robust exchange of views on governance and human rights, as has always been the case in the Rwanda-U.S. bilateral relationship.โ It acknowledged the talks would include Rusesabaginaโs situation.
Blinken on this trip also visited South Africa, where he described a strategy โrooted in the recognition that sub-Saharan Africa is a major geopolitical force.โ (VOA)