Jan. 19 (EUROPA PRESS) –
Rwanda accused the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) on Thursday of “sabotaging” the peace agreements signed in Luanda (Angola) with the aim of “prolonging the crisis and perpetuating insecurity in the province of North Kivu, in eastern from the country.
“The neighboring countries of the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Great Lakes region as a whole cannot afford for these new peace initiatives to fail. Our citizens deserve better,” the government spokesperson said in a statement, as reported by the Rwandan news agency.
It has also charged the DRC for being behind the protests organized against the regional force of the East African Community (EAC) in Goma and other parts of the country in an attempt, according to Rwanda, to withdraw from the Nairobi peace agreements and Luanda.
According to the Rwandan government, these demonstrations, which took place the day before, also seem to be aimed at the exit of the EAC from the region. Faced with these protests, the Congolese government spokesman, Patrick Muyaya, urged calm after a security meeting held in Kinshasa, Radio Okapi reported.
However, Rwanda has called on the DRC authorities to “end all political and military support for the genocidal Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) militias — an armed rebel group founded and composed mainly of responsible Hutu of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda– and other illegal armed groups”.
“Furthermore, the DRC’s recruitment of foreign mercenaries is a clear indication that the Congolese government is preparing for war, not peace,” the Rwandan side said, referring to possible involvement in the conflict. of mercenaries from the Wagner Group.
These remarks come after DRC President Felix Tshisekedi said on Wednesday that Rwanda is responsible for “insecurity in the Great Lakes region” while criticizing Kigali for its support for the rebel group the 23rd Movement. March (M23).
“The insecurity problem today in the Great Lakes region is called Rwanda,” he said in the Davos Forum, while alluding to “certain belligerent neighbors” who “make it difficult” to stabilize the situation in area.
Thus, he accused the M23 of not completing its withdrawal in the areas of the North Kivu region (east) that it has taken in recent months despite the agreement for a ‘road map’ agreed in the Angolan capital, Luanda, between DRC and Rwanda, according to the Congolese news portal Actualité.
In turn, the words of the Congolese president came after local media pointed out that the M23 had withdrawn on Monday from Nyamilima, located in North Kivu, about ten days after breaking into it.
The M23 has been accused since November 2021 of carrying out attacks against Army positions in North Kivu, despite the Congolese authorities and the M23 signing a peace agreement in December 2013 after fighting since 2012 with the Army, with the support of United Nations troops.
The situation has led to an uptick in tensions between the DRC and Rwanda as Kinshasa accuses Kigali of supporting the rebels. Kigali, for its part, denounces Kinshasa’s support for the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), founded and made up mainly of Hutus responsible for the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.
