Kagame’s Forty-Five-Year War Career Has Led to a Global War of His Own Making, Thanks to His Seizure of Congolese Territories

A soldier who became a ruler but never shed the soldier’s skin—because peace was never the destination, only the means to another war. Paul Kagame stands in his uniform, not out of necessity, but because he has never known another way to rule.

“I don't know if my troops are in the Democratic Republic of Congo — Rwanda Commander In Chief,”General Paul Kagame

“Kabarebe is a Rwandan government liaison for support M23 and manages much of Rwanda and M23’s generation of revenue from the DRC’s mineral resource,” US government 

“We must suspend the EU-Rwanda €900 million mineral MOU until Rwanda ceased all interference in DRC including its exploitation of minerals,” the European Parliament 

General Paul Kagame’s forty-five-year war career has led to a global war of his own making, thanks to his seizure of Congolese territories, namely, the cities of Goma, Bukavu and the in-between swaths of the countryside. While the Rwandan strongman recently claimed that “he does not know if his armies are in DRC,” the rest of the world affirms his armies caused deaths and destruction while looting DRC minerals. The US, the UK, Germany and the EU have robustly responded to Kagame’s forty-five-year war by sanctions and foreign aid suspension.

The Kagame forty-five-year war began in Uganda’s bush war of 1980 to 1986 and shows no signs of retiring from warfare. On the contrary, he is currently fighting a global war of his own making in the aftermath of seizing DRC’s territories. Kagame’s war rhetoric began to rise sharply at the January 2023 Rwandan Prayer Breakfast in Rwanda when he uttered many bombastic threats. 

What stood out to me was his declaration that anyone who dares to tell him what to do “can go to hell.” A year later, Burundi took a definitive stand, stating that Kagame “is a bad neighbour and we have suspended all relations with him until he comes to his senses.” Burundi accused General Kagame of being a dangerous neighbour and took the drastic step of shutting down the border with Rwanda. The Burundi government cited Rwanda’s harbouring Burundian rebels since the failed coup d’etat in Burundi in 2015. 

As of March 2025, Kagame’s global war of words and arms involves DRC after he seized Goma and Bukavu. His armies are fighting several armies inside DRC — the UN, South Africa, Malawi, Tanzania and DRC. On the global scene, western powers led by the US, the UK, Germany and the European Union have cut off foreign aid and imposed sanctions on Rwanda.

In his latest verbal missile against Western powers that have imposed sanctions on him, Kagame blasted them for being the real exploiters of DRC minerals. He lectured to Western powers that Rwanda is dead last among countries such as the US, China and Canada that exploit DRC minerals to make products.

This Kagame lecture is pathetic. No one with a sound mind would accuse a Banana Republic of using DRC minerals to manufacture products. Kagame steals minerals for a different purpose — exporting and accumulating wealth that ends in offshore bank accounts. 

Take a look at Rwanda’s exports to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as an example. Rwanda primarily exports gold and horticultural produce to the UAE, with gold being the top export. Rwanda exports other minerals to the UAU besides gold —coltan, tin ores, niobium, tantalum, vanadium and zirconium ore. According to the UAE Ministry of Economy, Rwanda-UAE bilateral trade crossed the US$1.1 billion mark in 2023, of which Rwanda’s gold exports were US$895 million.

How might Kagame’s global war end? All one can say is that it will not end well. It is easier to start a war than to end it — so said Gabriel Garcia Marquez.