The Rwandan government is pushing back hard against a new Human Rights Watch report, calling it selective and one-sided in how it handles the conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
At the center of Kigali's objection is what officials describe as an uneven standard: the report, they argue, zeros in on Rwanda and the M23 rebel group while giving far less attention to abuses allegedly committed by Congolese forces and their allies.
The dismissal reflects a broader tension that has followed HRW's coverage of the region, with Rwanda consistently contesting the framing of its role in the DRC crisis. Kigali has long maintained that its security concerns along the eastern border are legitimate, a position it says reports like this one fail to engage with seriously.
Whether international human rights scrutiny shifts the dynamics on the ground remains to be seen, but Rwanda shows no sign of softening its stance toward critics anytime soon.
Originally published by AllAfrica.