Rwandan President Paul Kagame on Thursday urged his country to be more self-reliant, amid growing calls in the United States for sanctions against the African nation over its involvement in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The small Great Lakes country faces increasing international pressure because of its support for the armed group M23, which last year conquered large portions of eastern neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo.

A peace agreement between Rwanda and the DRC, negotiated by US President Donald Trump, was signed in Washington at the end of 2025, but a few days later, the M23 seized another major city, Uvira.

Bipartisan support was expressed within a subcommittee of the House of Representatives on Foreign Affairs on January 22 in favor of additional sanctions against Rwanda.

On Thursday in Kigali, Mr. Kagame seemed to respond by insisting on the country's autonomy.

"We have committed ourselves to being self-reliant (…) so that our existence does not depend on luck, nor on the goodwill of those who might choose to help us today and then withdraw tomorrow," the head of state said.

"Autonomy is therefore our main priority," he added during this speech, a video of which was published on the X account of the presidency.

Rwanda claims that its involvement in eastern DRC is solely to help protect itself against an armed group that includes perpetrators of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, but it denies any direct military involvement, despite considerable evidence put forward by, among others, United Nations observers.

Rwanda's ambassador to the United States acknowledged for the first time the existence of direct "security coordination" with the M23 and its political arm, the Congo River Alliance (AFC), during the hearing of the House of Representatives' Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on January 22.

"Rwanda is participating in security coordination with the AFC/M23. I am stating this clearly to build trust through transparency," admitted Mathilde Mukantabana.

She specified that this was aimed "at preventing a new cross-border insurgency of a genocidal nature, like in the late 1990s, which could threaten the very existence of Rwanda."