Don't Let Kagame Off the Hook for His Destructive Meddling

There are many drivers of the endless war in Congo, but the Rwandan government’s destructive interventionism is a big one.

Michela Wrong sounds the the alarm about Paul Kagame and Rwanda’s destabilizing meddling in the Democratic Republic of Congo:

Now the M23 is back, but Western countries have failed to penalize Kagame for his renewed meddling. Over the last decade, Rwanda has made itself indispensable by supplying disciplined peacekeepers to trouble spots across the continent and, increasingly, by offering to house asylum seekers Europe does not want. As a result, the M23 rebellion has been allowed to escalate, drawing Congo’s neighbors into the conflict and risking a wider regional conflagration. Not since 2012 has Africa’s Great Lakes region been on such a troubling trajectory. But this time, no one is pumping the brakes.

The war in Congo is barely noticed by most of the rest of the world, but there has been ongoing armed conflict in the country for decades despite the formal peace that ended the Second Congo War twenty years ago. That conflict has been intensifying in recent months. There are many drivers of the endless war in Congo, but the Rwandan government’s destructive interventionism is a big one.