Why Rwanda has withdrawn from the Central Africa bloc: summary

What we know

• Rwanda has withdrawn from the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), citing manipulation by the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and violations of treaty rights. The announcement was made at the 26th ECCAS Summit in Equatorial Guinea.  
• Rwanda accuses the DRC of using its 2023–2024 ECCAS chairmanship to unjustly target Rwanda, including denying it the 2025–2026 chairmanship per Article 6 of the ECCAS Treaty.
• Rwanda alleges the DRC backs the FDLR, a UN-sanctioned militia tied to the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, violating over 20 UN Security Council resolutions, including Resolution 2773 (2025).
• Rwanda reports repeated shelling and incursions by Congolese forces and FDLR, plus threats by DRC President Félix Tshisekedi to overthrow Rwanda’s government, breaching ECCAS’s Article 3 on good-neighborliness.
• Rwanda argues that the DRC initiated violence against its citizens in 2021 and allows over 200 armed groups, including M23 rebels, to threaten regional security.

What they said

“It is not acceptable that individual member states of ECCAS, including the DRC, be permitted to manipulate the regional organisation against a fellow member state,” Rwanda’s cabinet stated, condemning DRC’s actions during its 2023–2024 ECCAS chairmanship. The DRC, however, accused Rwanda of fueling the eastern conflict by supporting M23 rebels, a claim backed by UN reports and Western governments but denied by Kigali.