Africa's Neocolonial Prodigy – How Rwanda Has Silenced the West
26/04/25
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PAUL KAGAME, IMAGE: HILDENBRAND/MSC
The 2004 film Hotel Rwanda is one that sheds light on the brutality and propagandising that clouded the Rwandan Genocide, the same kind we have seen in many conflicts, from World War 2, right up to today’s wars in Ukraine and Gaza. It also focuses on the shocking lack of correspondence from the Western world to address such an unfortunate tragedy. Yet over two decades after its release, even as there is grandiose talk of “decolonising the curriculum” to expand our teaching of history to the African continent, the infamous line of “you’re African” still rings true, as renewed tensions between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are thrown under the bus of global attention, for focus on other conflicts. Allowing this status quo to continue is dangerous and risks letting the region free-fall into wasteful cronyism, and the real risk of another unprecedented swarm of violence. All this is under the watchful, yet complacent eyes, of those seemingly proclaiming they are for liberty, peace and security: the Western world.
This is not the first time Rwanda and the DRC have been at odds. The first outbreak of tensions began in the 1990s, with the flight of Hutu extremists from Rwanda to Zaire, the then name of the DRC, following the overthrow of the Hutu Power regime in Rwanda by Tutsi forces under Paul Kagame. Kagame invaded Zaire in 1996, under the pretence of protecting local Tutsi populations in Zaire from these exiles, escalating into a full overthrow of Mobutu’s government by a coalition of African states, and an internal rebellion under Laurent Kabila. However, this alliance collapsed when Kabila acted against widespread accusations of being a puppet of Rwanda and Uganda, by purging loyalists to them. This led to the Second Congo War from 1998 to 2003. The war has remained the most catastrophic globally since World War 2, eclipsing even the carnage of the Invasion of Iraq, with an estimated 5.4 million deaths as a result, according to the British Medical Journal, a figure to keep in mind as you read on.
After the war, a Rwandan-backed Tutsi insurgency continued until 2009, when a peace agreement was signed. But, fragile as many agreements are, it dissipated in 2012, when the insurgency resurfaced as the M23 Movement. The movement claimed its support on the basis of poor living conditions for local Tutsis and the failed upholding of the 2009 peace deal. The movement tried to militarily secure the North and South Kivu regions soon after, but this effort was ended by 2013 through UN intervention, and the West using sanctions as a chokehold to cut Rwandan support. Despite this, the movement has done the exact same thing since 2022, now with direct assistance from unmarked Rwandan troops, not being impeded by any real form of punishment that may stop their actions, only minor sanctions on individual leaders. This has allowed M23 to make major gains this year, including capturing the cities of Goma and Bukavu, the regional capitals of North and South Kivu. The looming question remains: what has changed?
RWANDA, IMAGE: FRANÇOIS TERRIER
To answer this, one must look back to Paul Kagame, who remains Rwanda’s President. The Economist and The Telegraph have jumped to describing him as Africa’s Vladimir Putin, comparing Rwanda’s unmarked soldiers, and his denial of them, to Putin’s “little green men” during the annexation of Crimea. Meanwhile, Kagame himself has tried to make the world believe that he is creating the “Singapore of Africa”, according to Christian Caryl of Foreign Policy, lifting his country out of poverty and into prosperity.
A more fitting image than either of these interpretations, is that of a man from the school of neo-colonialism. Kagame has managed to make Rwanda a useful pawn for the enduringly hierarchical international order, enough for Western governments to turn a blind eye towards his scheming, which has been a major contributor to the lack of presence and awareness of the conflict in the media.
The most infamous example of this in the UK was the Conservative Party’s “Rwanda scheme”, where Kagame made himself useful to Sunak’s government by offering to take in immigrants to attempt to shift the issue away from UK politics. This was to the tune of at least £240 million from the British taxpayer, paid straight into Kagame’s coffers. This power-play of manipulative favours is a trademark strategy of Kagame’s, which shows in his other actions.
Rwanda under Kagame has contributed almost 6,000 troops to UN peacekeeping missions, the most out of any African country, and disproportionately high for its modest population. This might seem just and humanitarian at first, but they have also been used as political tools in helping Western countries to secure their own expropriations, without the scrutiny that would come with deploying European troops on African soil. For instance, in July 2021, Rwandan troops successfully helped capture Cabo Afungi, an LNG site owned by French energy company Total, from ISIS insurgents in northeast Mozambique. Security of the site continues to be handled by partners tied to Rwanda’s government.
Kagame has also overseen attempts by Rwanda to gain favour in sport, a lucrative and highly important market in many Western countries. Taking a playbook out of the Gulf States’ diversification efforts, the country’s tourism arm, 'Visit Rwanda', has spent millions of dollars striking deals with major football clubs, such as Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain. This alone has generated hundreds of millions in media revenue. In addition, Kagame is seeking to make Rwanda a host of major sporting events, to further a positive reputation for his country and increase cash flow. For instance, Rwanda is actively competing with South Africa to host a new F1 Grand Prix by 2027.
PRITI PATEL, THEN UK HOME SECRETARY, WITH MINISTER BIRUTA, IMAGE: UK HOME OFFICE
These favours, already granting Rwanda a mountain of wealth to use and abuse, are exacerbated further by M23’s presence. Rwanda is currently the largest exporter in the world of coltan, an important mineral used to manage temperatures in electronic devices. However, Rwanda has almost no coltan reserves of its own, compared to the DRC, which holds 60% of global reserves in the Kivu region. It is an unspoken truth that the M23’s zone of control there has allowed Kagame’s government to take full control of these reserves for itself.
This mars any sort of noble image on Kagame’s part, for even if there is legitimacy to the fact that the Tutsis in the Congo are being persecuted, his actions mainly constitute a clandestine operation to enrich Rwanda’s state elite and its militant allies. Little of this has helped the populations of either state. Rwanda continues to suffer from gross human rights abuses against both domestic political opposition and refugees fleeing from the conflict that Rwandan elites themselves have facilitated.
If the Western world is truly committed to assisting countries in eliminating poverty and guaranteeing their human rights, plunder and brutality are acts that should be punished immediately, not quietly tolerated. And if Rwanda is enough of a beacon of security and progress for Western politicians to not act, it is security and progress for the interests of the bourgeoisie, and not the people themselves.
The irony of this conflict is that the consequences of it, which we decry in places like Ukraine and Gaza, go unnoticed in Congo. Reuters reported 7,000 people were killed by the M23’s offensive between January and the end of February alone, and millions more have been displaced, threatening to further strain and destabilise a region already marked by poor infrastructure and widespread financial hardship. There is no reason why we should care about the people of the Eastern Congo any less. Above all else, there is the risk of further escalation and a slow repeat of the formation of webs of alliances that triggered the Second Congo War. Burundi’s Hutu-dominated government, naturally suspicious of Kagame’s actions, has been deploying soldiers into the Kivu region as early as 2023 to help slow M23’s advance, while Uganda has recently ramped up its own deployment of soldiers in the Congo.
In the end, it may well be the case that activism does not bring peace instantly, but it will, at the very least, make Western governments and Kagame more accountable than they have been up to this point. It is critical that we do our part, through spreading awareness of what is happening, and pressuring our politicians to give the same response that they did in 2013, rather than falling to bribery. Until we try, Kagame will be free to exploit his fiefdom, craft his boxing gloves, and potentially draw Africa’s leaders into a bloody tournament of no return. The catch is that ordinary citizens will be the fence surrounding the ring.
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