Congolese government Spokesperson Patrick Muyaya on November 15 lashed out at Rwanda, blatantly lying that it wants to receive asylum seekers from the UK while it failed to repatriate its citizens who live nearby, in eastern DRC. The Rwandan citizens he referred to are members of FDLR, a genocidal militia group formed in his country in mid 2000 by the remnants of the perpetrators of the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.

Muyaya told reporters during a press conference that: “There are Rwandans in the Democratic Republic of Congo who call themselves the FDLR. And, because we do not want to bring these Rwandans back to Rwanda, it is therefore a permanent pretext for waging war [against DRC].”

“How then do you want to start charity with those who have to take planes, cross the Atlantic and arrive at your home when, a few kilometers away, you have your own compatriots whom you do not want to take home?”

The FDLR – which Muyaya accuses Rwanda of not wanting them take it home – is a terrorist group. Before they morphed into FDLR, in 1999, the US blacklisted the militia group as terrorists after they killed American tourists in Bwindi forest, along the Uganda-DRC border.

The group's only mission is to fight and return to Rwanda, overthrow the current government and finish its unfinished job; exterminating the Tutsi.

On different occasions, the FDLR launched attacks on Rwandan territory, killing civilians and damaging properties. In September 2019, dozens of civilians were killed and many others injured by FDLR in Kinigi, a touristic area in Northern Province.

The Congolese government is aware of these well-documented attacks as it has supported and facilitated many of them but it pretends to be unware, while supplying the FDLR with heavy weapons in a bid to destabilize Kigali.

Related: DRC: Tshisekedi heavily arming FDLR, preparing for war

Successive DRC governments have supported and integrated FDLR into the national army. In early August, the Congolese national army supplied FDLR with tons of ammunitions including explosives for heavy and light weapons.

In 1997, as part of Rwanda’s key strategy for peace and stability, the Rwanda Demobilization and Reintegration Commission (RDRC) was established. It has since demobilized and offered reintegration support to more than 70,000 ex-combatants.

But some of FDLR leaders, emboldened by Kinshasa’s unwavering support, refused to voluntarily disarm and return to Rwanda to be reintegrated in society. Some are on record saying that they will only return to Rwanda when there are no more Tutsi alive in the country. It is these radical extremists that continue to spread the genocide ideology in eastern DRC and the region.