In a press briefing held in Kinshasa on Monday, Minister Shabani claimed that both Congolese and Rwandan interior ministers had been summoned to Doha to serve as 'moral authorities' or 'guarantors' in the deal signed between the DRC and the AFC/M23 rebel group on Saturday, July 19, to end fighting in the eastern DRC.
Responding to the minister's remarks in a post on X, Nduhungirehe labelled the claims as 'an outright lie,' accusing Kinshasa of routinely misinforming the Congolese public about the ongoing peace processes. He described such narratives as part of a broader pattern of communication failures from the Congolese government.
Nduhungirehe explained that Rwanda's role in the Doha talks was limited to that of an observer, following the June 27 peace agreement between the DRC and Rwanda mediated by the United States.
"The truth is that on the afternoon of the signing of the Washington Peace Agreement, June 27, 2025, the Qatari Minister of State for Foreign Affairs invited all parties (DRC and Rwanda) and all guarantors (United States, Togo, African Union Commission) to a meeting at the Qatari Embassy in Washington to discuss the next steps in the process," he revealed.
That meeting, he said, was attended by the foreign ministers of Congo, Rwanda, and Togo, alongside U.S. Special Advisor Massad Boulos. It was during this gathering that Qatar requested all involved parties and guarantors to send representatives to Doha to follow up on the peace negotiations, emphasising that the Washington and Doha tracks were complementary.
'In that context, and only that context, Rwanda was invited to Doha as an observer, just like the United States and the African Union,' Nduhungirehe explained.
'The DRC is a party to the Doha process, and thus Minister Shabani could not possibly have been considered an 'observer.''
The Rwandan minister also mocked recent remarks made by DRC government spokesperson Patrick Muyaya, who claimed that Rwanda's economy has been 'suffocating' since February 2025 due to Western sanctions prompted by President Félix Tshisekedi's 'firmness.'
'I must admitâ€"I'm 'suffocating' from laughter instead,' Nduhungirehe quipped.
The exchange follows a series of heated statements between officials of both countries in the aftermath of two landmark agreements: the Washington Peace Agreement signed between Rwanda and the DRC and the Doha Declaration of Principles signed between the Congolese government and the AFC/M23 rebel group.
While the Washington agreement focuses on dismantling the genocidal FDLR militia and easing border tensions, the Doha process aims to address the political roots of the M23 conflict through dialogue.
Minister Nduhungurehe on Sunday reiterated that the AFC/M23 is not covered under the Washington agreement's Joint Security Coordination Mechanism (JSCM), which is strictly bilateral between Kigali and Kinshasa.
Wycliffe Nyamasege
