UN experts find substantial evidence of Rwanda forces in Congo

Sunday, 25 December 2022 02:31 [ Last Update: Sunday, 25 December 2022 02:31 ]

UN experts say they found substantial evidence of Rwandan government forces crossing into neighboring eastern Congo, either to reinforce M23 rebels or to conduct military operations against another rebel group that includes fighters accused of taking part in the 1994 Rwanda genocide.

Iran Press/Africa: According to excerpts from the latest report from the panel of UN experts, weapons, ammunition, and uniforms were also provided to the M23 rebels. The group resurfaced more than a year ago and has been accused of killing civilians and seizing land in eastern Congo’s Rutshuru territory.

The panel said it also found “substantial evidence” of support given to several Congolese armed groups by members of Congo’s military, known as the FARDC, in Rutshuru. It said there is “cooperation between FARDC units and Congolese armed groups in Rutshuru territory.”

At the root of the current crisis between Rwanda and Congo is the 1994 genocide.

The carnage began when a plane carrying Rwandan President Juvénal Habyarimana was shot down, killing the leader, who like most Rwandans was an ethnic Hutu.

The country's minority Tutsis were blamed, and although they denied it, bands of Hutu extremists began killing them, including children, with support from Rwanda's army, police, and militias.

The genocide killed more than 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus who tried to protect them. Thousands of Hutus fled to neighboring eastern Congo.

Rwanda’s current president, Paul Kagame, a Tutsi, and former opposition military commander, is widely credited with stopping the genocide, but he has become a polarizing figure in recent years, accused of leading an authoritarian government that crushes all dissent.

The M23 rebels are largely Congolese ethnic Tutsis who became prominent 10 years ago when their fighters seized Goma, eastern Congo’s largest city on the border with Rwanda. The group derives its name from a March 23, 2009, peace deal, which it accuses the Congo government of not implementing.

The FDLR movement, also mentioned by the panel of experts, is a Hutu rebel group opposed to Tutsi influence that reportedly includes Hutus who participated in Rwanda's genocide.

Renewed attacks by M23 rebels have angered Congo’s government and led to talk of war in eastern Congo, a volatile region rich in minerals critical to much of the world’s technology. This month, the United Nations accused the rebels of massacring more than 130 civilians in two villages.

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