Rwanda Quits ECCAS, Accuses DR Congo of Politicizing Regional Bloc Amid Peace Efforts

By The Inspirer.

Rwanda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Olivier Nduhungirehe, has strongly condemned the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) for continuously using regional and international forums to target Rwanda, despite ongoing peace negotiations between the two countries.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Sunday morning—just hours after the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced Rwanda’s withdrawal from the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS)—Nduhungirehe called DR Congo’s repeated accusations “unbelievable and unacceptable.”

In the official statement announcing the withdrawal, Rwanda criticized what it described as “the instrumentalization” of ECCAS by DR Congo, aided by some member states, and accused the bloc of deviating from its founding mission.

The foreign minister noted that Kinshasa’s actions undermine recent peace-building efforts, including the March 18 meeting between Presidents Félix Tshisekedi and Paul Kagame in Doha, Qatar; the April 25 signing of a Declaration of Principles in Washington, D.C.; and the promising U.S.-facilitated negotiations toward a potential historic peace agreement.

“DR Congo, nonetheless, is still whining around in all regional and international organisations, accusing Rwanda of its own turpitudes—not to mention crying out for sanctions,” Nduhungirehe stated.

Rwanda’s decision to withdraw came after the ECCAS Ordinary Summit held on Saturday in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, which was attended by Rwandan Prime Minister Edouard Ngirente.

The Rwandan government also decried the bloc’s decision to deny Rwanda its right to assume the rotating presidency, as provided in Article 6 of the ECCAS Treaty, claiming this was “deliberately ignored in order to impose \[DR Congo’s] diktat.”

Despite the withdrawal, Nduhungirehe reaffirmed Rwanda’s commitment to international peace initiatives, warning against Kinshasa’s “reckless” politicization of regional organizations.

He also questioned ECCAS’s involvement in the eastern DR Congo conflict, noting that the matter is already being handled by both the East African Community (EAC) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), under the mediation of African Union-mandated facilitator President Faure Gnassingbé of Togo.

“Rwanda is engaged in all current peace processes—AU/EAC-SADC, Washington, and Doha—in good faith and with a sense of responsibility,” Nduhungirehe emphasized. Rwanda will never accept the manipulation, by a reckless and hopeless DR Congo, of regional economic communities such as ECCAS, which is, unfortunately, running counter to its founding principles and intended purpose.”

Following Rwanda’s departure, the regional bloc—established in 1983—now includes 10 member states: Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, DR Congo, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and São Tomé and Príncipe.