Rwanda has announced a withdrawal from the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), accusing the regional body of being manipulated by the DR Congo, and failing to uphold its founding principles.
In a statement released on Saturday, June 7, by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Int’l Cooperation, said the decision followed repeated violations of the ECCAS Treaty and deliberate efforts to sideline Rwanda from its rightful role within the organization.
The decision was announced following the 26th Ordinary Summit held today in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, where Rwanda’s right to assume the organization’s rotating chairmanship was reportedly bypassed. According to Rwanda, this act violated Article 6 of the ECCAS Treaty, which outlines the rules for the rotation of leadership among member states.
“This distortion of the organization’s purpose was once again evident in Malabo,” reads the statement, “where Rwanda’s right to assume the rotating Chairmanship was deliberately ignored in order to impose the DRC’s diktat.”
The Ministry also referenced a previous case in 2023, when Rwanda was excluded from the 22nd ECCAS Summit hosted in Kinshasa under the DR Congo’s presidency. Rwanda had formally protested the exclusion in a letter to the Chairperson of the African Union, but said no corrective action followed.
“The silence and inaction that followed confirm the organization’s failure to enforce its own rules,” the statement noted.
Citing a breakdown in the integrity of ECCAS processes and a breach of its rights as a member, Rwanda concluded that there was no longer justification to remain in the bloc.
“Rwanda denounces the violation of its rights as guaranteed by the constitutive texts of ECCAS,” the statement added. “Consequently, Rwanda sees no justification for remaining in an organization whose current functioning runs counter to its founding principles and intended purpose.”
In 2015, Rwanda rejoined the 11-member economic bloc, eight years after it had withdrawn from the group.
Initially a founding member in 1983, Rwanda exited the bloc in 2007, citing national interests and shifts in international diplomacy and Africa’s economic direction as reasons for its departure.
However, in 2015, the country officially expressed its desire to return to the regional organization, which now represents a combined population of more than 230 million and a GDP of $280 billion.
This bloc brought together the countries of Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Rwanda, and São Tomé and Príncipe.
Prince Ruzigana / The Kaminuza Star