“I told powerful friends of ours that when it comes to defending this country which has suffered for so long and nobody came to help, I don’t need permission from anybody,” said Kagame on Tuesday.
“We have to do what we have to do to protect ourselves,” said Kagame during the annual National Umushyikirano (Dialogue) in Kigali.
“I have said it in broad daylight. I have said to those who matter in this problem, and that it is what is going to happen,” he emphasised.
Kagame’s remarks come at a time of heightened security tensions between Rwanda and neighbours – Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi.
Gitega also accuses Rwanda of supporting the Red Tabara rebels who in December 2023 claimed responsibility for the attacks in Burundi in which over 20 people died.
Burundi also says the leaders of the failed 2015 coup against former President Pierre Nkurunziza are still based in Rwanda and that Kigali is yet to hand them over for trial of their crimes.
Sensing that tensions with neighbours and threats of invasion were creating uncertainty in Rwanda, Kagame today projected strength at the function covered live on television and social media and graced by top army and government officials.
“You go home and sleep. Don’t do anything. There will be nothing crossing the borders of our small country. If anybody attempts…” he warned.
Rwanda accuses DRC of arming FDLR, a militia group whose founders and ideology are blamed for the 1994 genocide while Kinshasa says Kigali helps M23 rebels with weaponry and soldiers to attack Congolese armed forces.
In the mid 1990s, Rwanda took part in a war that ousted Congolese dictator Mobutu Sseseko and also attempted to topple Laurent Kabila on grounds that they were supporting Rwandan rebel movements.
“Where we have been, 30 years ago, there is nothing worse that can happen to us,” said Kagame in a veiled reference to the 1994 genocide in which about 1 million people, mainly Tutsis, were killed.
“Also, that means if you ever put us in a situation where we have to think like it is going back to that time, then, we have nothing to lose,” said Kagame, warning, “We will fight like people who have nothing to lose and somebody will pay the price other than ourselves us.”