The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Rwanda are at loggerheads again over accusations that the Rwandan government is aiding the operations of the M23 terrorist group.
The DRC said the latest development would affect the smooth running of the presidential election in 2023.
Last week, fighting between the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC) – the national army – and the M23 rebels resumed.
Thereafter, Rwanda issued a statement accusing DRC President Felix Tshisekedi of continued military escalation and disregarding the agreed diplomatic solution to end the crisis in eastern DRC.
“FARDC’s build-up to renew attacks on M23, a Congolese armed group, violates the agreed regional security mechanisms, including the Nairobi and Luanda processes,” Rwanda said in a statement.
Rwanda further accused Tshisekedi of inciting the public along ethnic lines and targeting Rwandan border zones.
Tshisekedi said Rwanda’s defence of the M23 was one of the clearest signs that it was behind the rebel group’s operations to destabilise the DRC.
In a statement, DRC Communication and Media Minister Patrick Muyaya Katembwe said the response by Rwanda “reveals a new, clear and irrefutable admission that Rwanda is backing the M23”.
He also accused Rwandan President Paul Kagame of having an expansionist agenda.
“The attitude of Rwandan President Paul Kagame sufficiently demonstrates his strategy of permanent interference in the internal affairs of the DRC to maintain a climate of terror in the east, thus enabling widespread looting,” Katembwe said.
At various international negotiation platforms – including a meeting in New York with French President Emmanuel Macron, and at the Nairobi and Luanda negotiations – it was agreed that the M23, a United Nations-designated terrorist outfit, and other militias operating in the DRC should be stopped.
But the DRC said Rwanda’s behaviour was contrary to the resolutions taken at these negotiations.
Katembwe said: “Peace and stability in the east of the DRC are essential for the proper organisation of elections in 2023.”
In a letter addressed to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen, three members of the US Senate – Richard Durbin, Chris van Hollen and Tim Kaine – said they were worried about the M23’s terror attacks on civilians, and the United Nations Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the DRC (Monusco).
The senators also raised concerns about M23 rebels being heavily armed and having a constant supply of modern-day weapons that aid it in launching anti-aircraft strikes.
According to the senators, the only logical way for the M23 to have such arms was the support of a government, which they did not name.
The senators suggested that the US revisit its instruments to identify and sanction people involved in funding the M23. – News24
