President Kagame said that Rwanda’s size doesn’t allow her to have a war fought on her territory.
Incumbent President Paul Kagame has cautioned neighbours to the west and south that Rwanda does not start wars but when dragged into it, it does not fight it at home, because Rwanda is a small country in size and cannot afford to have a war on its own territory.
The incumbent Head of State, who is campaigning for reelection on the ruling party, Rwandese Patriotic Front (RPF-Inkotanyi) ticket, in a cryptic message to neighbours, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), without mentioning them, said that those who are threatening to attack Rwanda will be dealt with accordingly.
President Kagame, who also doubles as the RPF-Inkotanyi Chairman, on Saturday, told residents of Nyamasheke district, Western Province, that those who harbour thoughts of destabilizing Rwanda and Rwandans should be wary of the consequences, pointing out that previous attempts to attack Rwanda were dealt with and so will be any future attacks.
The RPF candidate thanked residents of Nyamasheke, which lies on the shores of Lake Kivu and the border with DRC, for playing a role in 2019, to ensure that security returns to the district, after infiltrators from DRC and Burundi attacked the South Eastern part of Rwanda, between 2018 and 2019, with a target of removing the Rwandan government.
The attackers were mainly members of the National Liberation Front (FLN), the armed group linked to Paul Rusesabagina and elements of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a genocidal Rwandan militia based in DRC -both groups backed by neighbouring countries with the aim of destabilizing Rwanda.
“I want to thank you the people of Nyamashekefo r restoring security in 2019. As a country we have come from afar, facing many difficult challenges but all the time we find solutions to overcome them and continue to progress. In 2019, we thought we had left that chapter behind but in 2019, some infiltrators came from a neighbouring country,”
Nyamasheke residents came out in big numbers.
“Apart from attempting to take advantage of nearby forests, they also tried to lie to the people of Nyamasheke, claiming that the district has many people who don’t support RPF leadership because it is isolated and they promised that they have come to change the government,” Kagame recalled.
He said that the said individuals said that they had the support of neighbouring countries, which would give them what they need, including arms, to remove the Rwandan Government. However, Rwanda was able to repulse the attackers, with the RPF candidate asserting that only a few were able to live to tell the story.
Referring to the past history of the district, which was part of Cyangugu Prefecture, that was often sidelined under the previous governments, President Kagame said that the attackers were mistaken because they found Nyamasheke residents alert and they rejected them.
“They discovered that Nyamasheke residents are Rwandans like all Rwandans anywhere and they are on the same path, united as one,” he said, adding that over the last two years, the same issue of people looking to destabilise Rwanda have persisted.
“They are still there. We have them in the neighbouring countries in the west and south. They are all vowing to attack Rwanda, that they are tired of the current government and the leadership, which they want to remove by supporting Rwandans with logistics to do so, from where they sit in their countries,” he observed.
He however said that the warmongering individuals forget quickly and do not heed to warnings, reminding them that Rwanda does not attack anyone but the country will always be ready to defend itself when dared to do so.
“We will bring the war to you”- President Kagame told warmongering neighbours.
“I have always told them that Rwanda is a small country, something they are responsible for because they divided and partitioned us. As result, because of our size, we cannot wait to be attacked because that means we would fight here and destroy our home,”
“No, we will find them there. They are the lucky ones, they have bigger countries, we will find them there and sort it out there. We must protect Rwanda at all costs and for that we don’t need permission from anyone to defend ourselves,”
“Therefore, I am reminding those vowing to attack Rwanda, or those who have done it before, that they should tread carefully, if they so wish, and we become good neighbours who trade with each other and strive to develop. If they don’t want to, that is not my problem,” he said.
Kagame told Nyamasheke residents that security is a top priority and everything else builds on that, and it is a responsibility of all Rwandans to ensure that it is there. He reiterated the benefits of voting RPF-Inkotanyi, including keeping the country and the people as one, as opposed to the divisions, isolation and discrimination propagated by previous governments.
