Kagame urges exiles to return

Rwandan leader Paul Kagame, who was inaugurated as president in Kigali on Saturday, has pledged to "cement unity" in the country. In his inaugural speech, broadcast by Rwandan radio, he said his government would "continue to fight sectarian politics among Rwandans". In this context, he urged Rwandan exiles to return to the country. "Let them come to join hands with
us and build our country," he said. "I also call upon Rwandans still in the DRC and elsewhere, still harbouring a plan of waging war against their country, to give it up and come back..." He recalled that the government sent troops to DRC to put an end to attacks by ex-FAR and Interahamwe militias against Rwanda. The fact that Rwandan troops were in the neighbouring country "does not mean that Rwandans like to fight or that
Rwanda would like to be a superpower in this region," he said. "If these Rwandans [in DRC] were to agree to give up their plans to kill, massacre and cause destruction...and if the leadership of DRC stopped attacking Rwanda or helping those attacking Rwanda, then the problem would be solved. We would then have no reason to have troops in Congo."