In a statement shared on X reacting to a recent Reuters report, Amb. Nduhungirehe highlighted the deployment of foreign mercenaries linked to Erik Prince, the founder of the Blackwater from the United States (U.S.).
He questioned whether the United Nations Security Council, the African Union, and the broader international community would continue to overlook these actions.
"Let me recall that, by using foreign mercenaries over and over again, the Government of the DRC is defying the international community by violating the OAU Convention for the Elimination of Mercenarism in Africa, adopted in Libreville on 3rd July 1977, and the International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries, adopted by the UN General Assembly on 4th December 1989 [Resolution 44/34]," Amb. Nduhungirehe wrote.
"Will the UN Security Council, the African Union and the larger 'international community' continue looking the other way in the face of this persistent violation of international law?"
The minister's remarks directly reference a Reuters exclusive detailing Prince's involvement in the DRC conflict.
The AFC/M23 fighting the Congolese government captured Uvira city on December 9, 2025, advancing toward the Makobola center.
By the end of that month, Congolese special forces from the 'Hiboux' and 'Cheetah' units had launched heavy attacks on the rebel positions, using heavy weaponry, combat aircraft, and drones.
On January 10, 2026, Reuters reported, citing four sources, that Erik Prince had deployed a private security team to operate the drones while Congolese forces intensified efforts to dislodge AFC/M23 from the city and the surrounding highlands of South Kivu.
The report said the team worked alongside Israeli advisers who trained two Congolese special forces battalions in day and night combat operations, although the Israelis' mandate was limited strictly to training.
On 17th and 18th January, AFC/M23 withdrew all its fighters from the city after the United States reportedly promised that, if the withdrawal was respected, peace talks in Doha, Qatar, would resume.
By that time, Prince's contractors were no longer needed on the frontlines, as Congolese forces and allied militias re-entered the city on the morning of January 18, without engaging in combat.
Sources indicated the team provided drone support to Congolese special operations forces and the army in Uvira before withdrawing to refocus on revenue collection efforts.
Last year, following the withdrawal of hundreds of Romanian mercenaries who had been fighting alongside the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC) after their defeat by the M23 rebels in Goma, President Félix Tshisekedi's government reportedly hired the private military company Blackwater, founded in Colombia by Erik Dean Prince.
Amb. Nduhungirehe's statement echoes Rwanda's longstanding position that the DRC's hiring of foreign fighters undermines regional peace efforts.
IGIHE
