“I am free to go anywhere” - Kigeli

Former Rwandan King Jean-Baptiste Ndahindurwa Kigeli V, who currently lives in exile in the US, on Monday said he was “free to go anywhere he wanted, to visit relatives, and those who invited him”. He told the BBC that his recent visit to the DRC at President Laurent-Desire Kabila’s invitation had “greatly to do with Rwanda”. “I went there mainly to discuss problems existing between Congo and Rwanda - their wars,” he said. “It is a sad situation. No person who loves his country would agree to keep quiet,” he said, adding that the main reason for his meeting with the leaders of the African countries he visited “were ways to restore peace in Rwanda and Congo”. “My main aim was to make sure that Rwandan children stop going to Congo to die without knowing why they are dying. This is not good,” he noted.

He said he would have welcomed an invitation to hold discussions with the Rwandan authorities, “but I cannot keep quiet if they do not consult me”. He termed as “rumours” allegations that he had gone to the DRC to meet his “soldiers”. He said he visited former French colonies, but declined to specify which ones. King Kigeli’s visit to the DRC last month was referred to as of ‘no consequence” by the Rwandan government.