Rwandan president Paul Kagame said on Monday that the country can no longer accept refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Kagame said in a video clip posted on Tuesday that Rwanda will no carry the burden of Congolese refugees anymore.

“We have had refugees here for over 20 years, from DRC. I am refusing that Rwanda should carry this burden and be insulted and abused everyday about it,” said President Kagame in a tweet.

According to the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), in November 2022 Rwanda had some 72,000 Congolese refugees.

Fighting between government forces and the M23 movement in the mineral-rich eastern DRC has increased tensions with neighbouring Rwanda, which the DRC accuses of supporting the militia.

Rwanda however denies any involvement, but blames Kinshasa of harboring elements of the former Hutu rebel groups accused in the 1994 Rwanda genocide.

But UN experts said in report published in December 2022, that they had substantial evidence of “direct intervention by the Rwandan Defence Forces (RDF) on the territory of the DRC.”