To commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda, Foreign Affairs magazine interviews Rwandan President Paul Kagame. On why he chose reconciliation over a more punitive approach to accountability, he explains, “that would have sowed the seeds for a cycle of chaos. We had to exercise maximum restraint and also reason. Was our duty settling scores or dealing with the issues in such a way as to allow space for building the future?” Kagame also rejects allegations made by the United States, the UN, and the Europeans that his country has supported militias across the border in eastern Congo. “First of all, there is absolute hypocrisy in what they say. I mean, are they address¬ing Congo’s problems, and if so, how? By continuing attacks on Rwanda? Second, why are they selective on what problems they deal with and how they deal with them? Has any one of those governments denied that there are still génocidaires in the Congo? What is the West doing about them? Third, why do you keep saying that Rwanda is the problem in the Congo and not that Congo is a problem for Rwanda?”
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