KINSHASA/KIGALI/BERLIN (own report) – The decades-long support for Rwanda from Germany and the EU has increasingly been sparking protests due to the role played by the country in the fighting in eastern Congo. The Rwandan government in Kigali has for decades supported all kinds of militias in the neighbouring Kivu provinces in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Those forces are plundering raw materials on a huge scale and smuggling them into Rwanda. Kigali earns billions from these activities, while enabling militias to fight an ongoing war in eastern Congo. In recent months and weeks the M23 militia, with direct front-line support from the Rwandan army, has conquered large areas of the Kivu provinces. Countless inhabitants are fleeing their homes. Germany has, for a long time, been cooperating closely with Rwanda, a former colony of the German Reich. Berlin has also been considering Rwanda as a possible location for outsourcing asylum procedures to distant parts of the world. Last year, the EU signed an agreement with Kigali for raw material supplies. Observers expect “blood minerals” from the war in eastern Congo to be reaching Europe through this channel. Read more

BERLIN/BRUSSELS/KIGALI (Own report) - The EU plans to relocate refugees from Libya to camps in Rwanda. In an initial step, 500 refugees, seeking to cross over to Europe, but are now detained in Libyan camps, will be deported to the small Central African country, according to several reports. This program, which should at least be co-financed by Brussels, could possibly be expanded to 30.000 refugees. This step is being considered, because a program, initiated at the end of 2017, has stalled. Under that program refugees were relocated from Libya to Niger. However - contrary to promises made - the refugees were only being resettled very slowly to the rich countries in Europe and North America, and discontent is rising in Niger. Rwanda is already hosting nearly 150,000 refugees, who are living in camps under desolate conditions. Last year, eleven refugees were killed during their protest against 25% reductions in food rations. Rwanda is notorious for its bloody repression. Read more

BERLIN german-foreign-policy.com was talking with Dr. Helmut Strizek concerning German policy toward Rwanda and Rwandan influence in the Eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Dr. Strizek had worked in Rwanda and Burundi for many years, was periodically in charge of project management concerning both countries in the Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development and has published several books on these two nations. Read more