- President Kagame Responds to Macron’s Remarks on Goma Airport: “The Issue Is Deeper Than Administrative Procedures”
President Paul Kagame has issued a sharp and detailed response to French President Emmanuel Macron’s recent remarks suggesting that M23 rebels and those in control of Goma Airport have not made the necessary efforts to reopen it, despite the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) having met “administrative conditions.”
Responding to a question from Romain Gras, a Jeune Afrique journalist specializing in the DRC and the Great Lakes region, Kagame appeared visibly puzzled by Macron’s assertions, questioning both their accuracy and their logic.
“I don’t know what is being referred to as the government of DRC having met… what? What administrative need? I don’t understand the meaning of it,” he said, challenging the premise that Kinshasa had fulfilled all requirements for reopening the airport.
Kagame noted that the situation is far more complicated than suggested by the French leader, drawing attention to a critical fact: the DRC itself has closed the airspace over Eastern Congo.
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“Are you aware that the airspace in Eastern Congo is actually closed? Planes don’t overfly Eastern Congo because the DRC government closed the airspace. Now you want to open an airport in a closed airspace?” he asked. “I don’t understand the meaning of it.”
He went on to question Macron’s framing of who controls Goma Airport and who controls M23, pointing to what he described as selective narratives often advanced by external actors.
“Those M23 and others who control… who controls M23 and others? Could I equate it with saying the government of DRC, FARDC and FDLR actually have big control in that area?” Kagame said. He added that FDLR forces have long operated in the region and are “being fought every day by the M23 even before those ‘others’ who control the airport come in.”
Kagame accused some European actors of downplaying or avoiding discussion about the FDLR, a group composed of remnants of the perpetrators of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi who fled into the DRC.
“You know the reason there is a whole story about FDLR, and those others in Europe talk about the airport. Those others who control it, other than M23. There are those others from Europe who control the airport. That’s why they are always quiet about FDLR,” he said. “When issues come up about so-called ‘Rwanda-backed M23’, they talk loudly; when it is about FDLR, they whisper.”
He linked this silence to what he described as a historical pattern of external interference that has shaped conflict dynamics in both Rwanda and the eastern DRC.
“These same actors were part of the problem 31 years ago, the origin of the tragedy we had here,” he said, referring to the 1994 genocide. “If they think we can be silenced to not talk about their historical role and responsibility in the tragedies in Rwanda and the region, they are welcome to try.”
Kagame said Rwanda would not hesitate to revisit the historical record if political narratives continue to distort the current situation.
“If those things keep coming up the way they have been, we will say more about it,” he said.
He also questioned the consistency in how international actors assign responsibility, noting that far greater influence from abroad shapes the operations of armed groups and even state actors in the DRC.
“There are those others also who control, from the same place where the voice came… who control the government of DRC and control FDLR,” he said. “That’s why people keep quiet about it.”
Kagame concluded by warning that selective framing of the crisis in eastern Congo only deepens the problem, reinforcing misunderstandings and emboldening actors who benefit from instability.
“This selective way of presenting issues and wanting to address sensitive matters based on how you have chosen to handle it becomes part of the problem,” he said.
The exchange underscored escalating diplomatic tensions surrounding the conflict in eastern DRC and highlighted the widening gap between local realities and global narratives shaping international responses.
