Monsieur le Président,

1. Le Rwanda prend note de la mise à jour orale de la Commission. 

2. Le Rwanda réaffirme son attachement à la paix, à la stabilité régionales et aux principes de la Charte des Nations Unies. Nous soutenons un travail d’enquête crédible, impartial et fondé sur des preuves, car c’est le moyen le plus sûr d’éclairer les décisions du Conseil et de renforcer la responsabilité. 

Mr. President,

1. Serious allegations have been presented before this Council without independently verifiable evidence, transparent sourcing or objective corroboration. Rwanda requests that such allegations meet a credible evidentiary standard, forensic analysis where relevant, and independently corroborated sources.
    Anonymous testimonies, unverified accounts and selectively cited open-source information cannot provide a sufficient basis for definitive conclusions. 

2. Rwanda also wishes to address the CoI’s method of work. The Commission’s mandate is to establish facts, circumstances and root causes in North Kivu and South Kivu, including through field engagement. The Commission has shared the challenges to access the concerned region, opting to work in Kinshasa. It is to note that Kinshasa is approximately 1,500 kilometres from Goma and Bukavu, roughly the distance between Geneva and Bucharest or further than Singapore and Bangkok. No one would claim to understand what is happening in Bangkok while assessing the situation from Singapore or conversely by investigating Bucharest, while remaining in Geneva. In the same way, an oral update on both Kivus must be grounded in the realities of the region. 

3. Without field visits, direct engagement with affected communities and careful verification on the ground, Rwanda is concerned that the Commission cannot fully discharge its mandate. My delegation therefore invites the Chair to clarify how the Commission will address this gap, including how they will engage victims and witnesses across the Great Lakes region, where UNHCR reports approximately 949,000 Congolese refugees and asylum-seekers in various countries, including Rwanda. 

Mr. President,

1. The crisis in eastern DRC is complex and deeply rooted. For Rwanda, any assessment must include the FDLR, a UN-sanctioned genocidal armed group founded by perpetrators of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. Since finding safe haven in eastern DRC, FDLR has remained a direct threat to Rwanda’s security and a driver of instability in the Great Lakes Region. 

2. The threat carries an ideological dimension. The genocidal ideology spread by the FDLR continues to fuel anti-Tutsi hate speech, ethnic incitement and discriminatory rhetoric against Congolese Tutsi communities, including the Banyamulenge. These are early warning signs that cannot be ignored. These realities are documented in UN reporting. 

   Mr. President,

3. The AU-led mediation under Togo’s leadership, the Washington Peace Accords between Rwanda and the DRC, and the Doha Process, have created important political tracks. The agreed concept of operations under the Washington peace accords identifies the neutralization of the FDLR as a responsibility of the DRC. However, implementation is undermined by the DRC’s continued coordination with the genocidal armed group byequipping, financing and politically backing their coordination with the Congolese army. The DRC cannot call for peace while pursuing a military solution on the ground, further supported by over 10 K Burundian soldiers and foreign mercenaries. This approach must be clearly called out. 

4. Rwanda urges this Council and future reporting mechanisms to apply credible evidentiary standards, reflect the full security context, including the FDLR threat, and support the implementation of existing peace commitments.

5. Peace will be measured by implementation on the ground, through inclusive political dialogue, regional cooperation, confidence-building measures and comprehensive approaches that address the root causes of the conflict.

I thank you.