The United States and the European Union are urging Rwanda to cease supporting rebels who are committing atrocities in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). This comes after a United Nations report revealed evidence of direct interventions by Rwanda’s armed forces in the mineral-rich neighboring country.
Pressure is mounting on President Paul Kagame, a long-standing ally of the West, whose government recently entered into a controversial agreement to accept asylum seekers who illegally arrive in Britain.
The main issue revolves around Rwanda’s alleged support for the M23, a group that resurfaced in 2021 and launched an offensive in the conflict-stricken eastern DRC. The M23, which is backed by Kigali according to the US, EU, and DRC, has been accused of mass killings and the rape of civilians.
According to the International Organization for Migration, nearly one million people have been displaced by violence since the resurgence of the M23 in April.
The UN report conducted by a group of experts found evidence of direct interventions by the Rwandan military on DRC territory. These interventions were either to reinforce M23 combatants or to carry out military operations against opposing armed Hutu groups, such as the Forces Démocratiques de Libération du Rwanda.
Rwanda has consistently denied supporting the M23, which consists mainly of Congolese Tutsis. The M23 claims to be protecting Tutsis against the FDLR, a group it alleges is supported by Kinshasa and includes Hutus accused of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi population in Rwanda. The UN experts’ report also found evidence of the FDLR fighting alongside Congolese armed forces against the M23.
These accusations arise amidst heightened tensions between Kinshasa and Kigali over the eastern region of the DRC, where over 100 different rebel groups are competing for control of the area’s valuable resources, including minerals.
The report, released on Tuesday, stated that Rwanda’s military actions in the DRC aimed to strengthen the M23 by providing troops and resources and to use them to secure control over mine sites, gain political influence in the DRC, and weaken the FDLR.
The UN experts also identified General James Kabarebe, a defense and security adviser to President Kagame, as the person responsible for designing and coordinating Rwanda’s operations in the DRC province of North Kivu.
Rwanda’s defense forces spokesperson, Brigadier General Ronald Rwivanga, condemned the allegations as completely false and fabricated, while an M23 spokesperson, Lawrence Kanyuka, dismissed the report as containing non-verified allegations.
In response to the report, Matthew Miller, spokesperson for the US State Department, reiterated the call for Rwanda to withdraw its troops from Congolese territory and to cease support for the UN- and US-sanctioned M23 armed group, which has been implicated in multiple violations of international humanitarian law and human rights abuses.
Josep Borrell, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, also reiterated the demand for Rwanda to end its support for the M23 and to exert pressure on the group to withdraw from the occupied areas.
Furthermore, on Monday, the United Kingdom imposed sanctions on two Congolese militia chiefs for allegedly overseeing acts of sexual brutality in the eastern DRC. However, rights groups have criticized the UK for remaining silent on the M23.
Clementine de Montjoye, Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch, called on the UK to join the US, EU, and others in demanding that Rwanda ends its support for the M23. De Montjoye also emphasized the need to impose sanctions on Rwandan officials who may be complicit in atrocities through their military assistance to the M23 forces.
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