During a Cabinet meeting held on Monday, June 9, 2025, at Urugwiro Village and chaired by Prime Minister Dr. Edouard Ngirente, officials reviewed the country's withdrawal, which was formally announced on June 7 during the 26th Ordinary Summit of ECCAS in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea.
According to the communiqué released after the Cabinet session, Rwanda's withdrawal stems from sustained actions by the DRC to undermine Rwanda's position within the regional body. The government pointed specifically to the DRC's move to block Rwanda from assuming the rotating ECCAS chairmanship in violation of the bloc's established protocols.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs had earlier noted that Rwanda was unfairly denied its rightful turn to lead ECCAS, a role that rotates among the 11 member states based on the French alphabetical order. Instead, the organisation chose to extend Equatorial Guinea's chairmanship, citing Rwanda's alleged involvement in the eastern DRC conflict.
As the immediate past Chair of ECCAS from February 2023 to February 2024, the DRC is accused of using its position to unjustly collude against Rwanda, with no corrective action taken by the regional body.
'The manipulation has continued under the current Chair,' the statement read.
The Cabinet also accused the DRC of using ECCAS to legitimise its hostility towards Rwanda, including what it termed as false pretexts around the ongoing conflict in eastern Congo, where Rwanda has repeatedly denied backing M23 rebel activities. It emphasised that the conflict was already ongoing when the DRC assumed the ECCAS chairmanship in 2023 and blamed Kinshasa for instigating the violence by attacking its own citizens in late 2021.
The Cabinet noted that more than 200 foreign and local armed groups now operate in eastern DRC, posing a threat to regional stability.
Further, the Cabinet reiterated that the DRC continues to finance and support the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a UN-sanctioned genocidal militia, despite repeated international resolutions calling for an end to such support. The most recent UN Security Council Resolution 2773 denounced this backing and demanded the neutralisation of the FDLR group that was formed by the perpetrators of the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda.
Rwanda also condemned repeated cross-border attacks, shelling, and incursions into its territory by DRC armed forces and the FDLR, as well as public threats by President Félix Tshisekedi to overthrow the Rwandan government, actions that Kigali said breach Article 3 of the ECCAS Treaty on good-neighbourliness.
'These violations of Rwanda's rights as a member state make continued participation in ECCAS untenable,' the Cabinet stated, adding that the regional bloc had failed to ensure equal treatment and respect among its members.
Despite its departure from ECCAS, Rwanda affirmed its continued commitment to peace and regional dialogue. The Cabinet expressed support for the African-led peace process and welcomed ongoing mediation efforts by the United States and the State of Qatar.
'The DRC should focus on resolving its longstanding internal failings rather than seeking scapegoats in international forums,' the communiqué concluded.
IGIHE
