Belgian Alain Destexhe, a former senator known more for his controversies and media stunts than his political work, has once again made headlines. A close ally of Paul Kagame’s regime, Destexhe was granted Rwandan citizenship, reinforcing his reputation as one of Kigali’s most vocal international supporters. His career has been marked by corruption and conflict of interest scandals, from Kinshasa to Paris, via Baku. Now, in Goma, instead of interviewing Corneille Nangaa, the supposed leader of the AFC/M23, Destexhe chose to meet Sultani Makenga, the group’s real power figure and military commander, further exposing Nangaa as a mere figurehead in Kigali’s game.
During the interview, Makenga painted himself as a victim, portraying the M23 as a movement fighting for survival. He justified the occupation of Goma and Bukavu by blaming the Congolese Armed Forces (FARDC) and their allies, claiming they had no choice but to act. He presented the M23’s battlefield success as a triumph of discipline and conviction over a numerically superior force, dismissing the overwhelming evidence of Rwandan military backing that has been widely documented by the United Nations, Western intelligence agencies, and regional observers.
Destexhe, far from acting as a neutral journalist, guided the conversation into the familiar narrative that Kigali has been pushing for years—that M23 is a Congolese resistance movement, rather than a Rwandan proxy force aiming to annex eastern DRC’s resource-rich territories.
Makenga’s statements were textbook Rwandan propaganda. He refused to acknowledge that his troops had been supplied, trained, and even commanded by Rwandan officers. Instead, he framed the M23’s fight as a defensive struggle against “ethnic hatred,” ignoring the repeated reports of massacres and human rights abuses committed by M23 fighters against Congolese civilians.
When asked about the South African, Malawian, and Tanzanian troops still stranded in Goma, Makenga insisted they were not prisoners, contradicting multiple reports that the SADC forces had been encircled and forced into an impossible situation by Rwandan-M23 advances. He also downplayed the involvement of foreign mercenaries fighting alongside the FARDC, while remaining silent on the presence of Rwandan regular forces embedded with the M23.
The interview reached its lowest point when Makenga was asked about Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi. Without hesitation, he dismissed him as a “bandit” who “never had love for his country.” This statement reflects the longstanding strategy of Kagame’s regime to delegitimize any Congolese leader unwilling to submit to Kigali’s demands.
By giving a platform to Makenga’s justifications, Destexhe once again demonstrated his role as a propagandist rather than a journalist. His interview avoids the core issue: M23 is not an independent movement but a well-documented tool of Rwandan expansionism. Kagame, whose dictatorship has lasted nearly 30 years, continues to rely on figures like Destexhe to launder Rwanda’s image internationally, while its forces fuel chaos, displacement, and bloodshed in eastern DRC.
The timing of this interview is not accidental. With SADC forces withdrawing under humiliating conditions, and diplomatic pressure mounting against Rwanda, Kigali is desperately seeking to shift the narrative. Destexhe’s whitewashing of M23’s actions only serves to reinforce Kagame’s disinformation machine, while the people of eastern DRC continue to suffer under Rwanda’s hidden war of aggression.
Therwandan
