Rwanda’s government has walked back on President Paul Kagame’s stand that the country will no longer offer refuge to people fleeing conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Mr Kagame’s had said refugees fleeing across the border into Rwanda were “not Rwanda’s problem”.
“I am refusing that Rwanda should carry this burden,” the president said.
But in a statement on Tuesday night, government spokesperson Yolande Makolo said Rwanda had no intention to expel or ban refugees.
She accused the media of misrepresenting President Kagame’s remarks.
“What the President addressed was the blatant hypocrisy in criticising Rwanda which simultaneously gets the blame for state failure in the DRC [DR Congo], and is then expected to accommodate those who seek refuge from the consequences of that failure,” she tweeted.