Rwandan President Paul Kagame issued a stern warning to South Africa on Wednesday night, accusing President Cyril Ramaphosa and his government of distorting the facts about the ongoing conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and suggesting that Rwanda is prepared for confrontation if necessary.

"What has been said about [the talks I had with Ramaphosa this week] in the media by South African officials and by President Ramaphosa himself contains a lot of distortion, deliberate attacks and even lies.

"If words can change so much from a conversation to a public statement, that says a lot about the way these very important issues are being managed," Kagame said in a post on his X account, in response to the statement published by Ramaphosa.

According to a South African newspaper, The Mail & GuardianRamaphosa's statement follows the death of 13 South African soldiers deployed as part of the Southern African Development Community Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (SAMIDRC).

The death of the South African soldiers has intensified political and military scrutiny in Pretoria, forcing the government to justify its intervention in the decades-old conflict, while maintaining increasingly tense relations with Rwanda.

The South African authorities blamed the escalation of violence on the M23 rebel group and the Rwandan Defense Forces.

International Relations Minister Ronald Lamola said that South Africa was working with the African Union Peace and Security Council and the United Nations Security Council to push for "an immediate ceasefire".

However, Kagame rejected South Africa's involvement in peacekeeping, saying that SAMIDRC was not a peacekeeping mission, but a "belligerent force" supporting the Congolese government.

Kagame accused SAMIDRC of working alongside the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a militia with historical links to the perpetrators of the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

The FDLR was targeting Rwanda, Kagame said, "while threatening to wage war against Rwanda itself".

The Rwandan President also accused SAMIDRC of replacing the East African Community Regional Force, which he characterized as the only legitimate peacekeeping operation in the region.

"President Ramaphosa never gave a 'warning' of any kind, unless it was uttered in his local language, which I don't understand," Kagame said in his statement, addressing the notion that he had been warned by his South African counterpart.

Instead, Kagame said that Ramaphosa had requested logistical assistance to ensure that the South African troops had electricity, food and water, which Rwanda would help facilitate.

Kagame said that Ramaphosa had personally acknowledged that M23 was not responsible for the deaths of the South African soldiers, but rather the Armed Forces of the DRC (FARDC).

"If South Africa wants to contribute to peaceful solutions, that's all well and good, but South Africa is not in a position to take on the role of peacemaker or mediator. And if South Africa prefers confrontation, Rwanda will deal with it in that context at any time."

However, Ramaphosa had already said that the fighting was the result of "an escalation by the M23 rebel group and the Rwandan Defense Forces militias, which have engaged with the DRC Armed Forces and attacked the SADC Mission's peacekeepers".

Ramaphosa said that South Africa's military presence in the DRC is part of a regional and international peacekeeping effort.

(Photo DR)