---
title: "Kagame says Congo is arming the FDLR. Kinshasa says Rwanda is arming M23"
description: "Both accusations describe the same prohibited act, support for an armed group across the border, and both are denied. Ceasefire verification missions began this month, with a delegation arriving in South Kivu on Monday."
category: "World"
category_url: https://newsparlor.com/category/world
author: "Priya Sharma"
published: 2026-08-25T13:36:05.000Z
updated: 2026-08-25T13:36:05.000Z
canonical: https://newsparlor.com/article/kagame-says-congo-is-arming-the-fdlr-kinshasa-says-rwanda-is-arming-m23
tags: ["rwanda", "dr-congo", "m23", "fdlr", "great-lakes"]
---
# Kagame says Congo is arming the FDLR. Kinshasa says Rwanda is arming M23

Both accusations describe the same prohibited act, support for an armed group across the border, and both are denied. Ceasefire verification missions began this month, with a delegation arriving in South Kivu on Monday.

President Paul Kagame has accused the Democratic Republic of the Congo of backing the FDLR, saying Congolese authorities "are arming the FDLR and integrating its members into their own forces", [Al Jazeera reports](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/8/25/rwanda-accuses-dr-congo-of-supporting-an-armed-group-on-its-soil).

The FDLR was formed from remnants of the Rwandan forces involved in the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi, and Kigali treats its presence in eastern Congo as a threat to Rwandan security.

## The evidence offered, and its limits

Rwanda's case rests on testimony from former FDLR fighters, some of whom returned voluntarily and some of whom were captured. Kagame said they "tell the same story", and that American, European and UN missions have visited the Mutobo Demobilisation and Reintegration Centre to hear it.

Consistent testimony is evidence, and it is also the category of evidence that requires the most care. Captured fighters are speaking to their captors, and demobilized fighters are in a government programme. Neither is a neutral setting, which is not a reason to dismiss what they say, but is a reason not to treat consistency alone as proof.

We have no independent verification of the allegation, and this account contains no response from Kinshasa to it.

## The mirror

The Congolese government accuses Rwanda of supporting M23 and of deploying Rwandan troops on Congolese territory. Rwanda denies it.

So each government accuses the other of the same prohibited act, in the same region, and each denies the charge made against it. This is the structure of the eastern Congo conflict rather than a new development in it, and readers should be wary of any account that resolves it in one direction without evidence.

## What was actually agreed

Two documents bear on this: a peace agreement signed in Washington on June 27, 2025, and the Doha Framework Agreement of November 15, 2025, between the DRC and M23. Both include provisions against supporting armed groups.

That is why the accusations matter beyond rhetoric. Each side is alleging a breach of something both signed. Ceasefire verification missions began this month, and a delegation arrived in South Kivu province on Monday, which we noted when the [monitoring mission reached the country](/two-un-peacekeepers-killed-in-an-ambush-in-jonglei-state) alongside other regional deployments.

Verification is the mechanism designed for exactly this dispute. Whether it can operate in eastern Congo is a separate question.

## What we could not establish

We could not establish where or when Kagame made these remarks, whether the DRC has responded, what the verification mission has found, the FDLR's current strength, or the status of M23's positions. We verified this account from a single publication, and every allegation here is denied by the government it is made against.

## Sources

- [Rwanda accuses DR Congo of supporting an armed group on its soil](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/8/25/rwanda-accuses-dr-congo-of-supporting-an-armed-group-on-its-soil)