Rwanda Accuses UN Of Backing DR Congo Army
DR Congo and Rwanda have been trading blames and accusations on their support for rebel movements that are escalating the insecurity in Eastern DR Congo.
The Government of Rwanda has accused the United Nations Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO) of supporting the DR Congo army, FARDC.
It said FARDC has been giving military assistance to the Rwandan rebel group, the Forces Democratiques de Liberation du Rwanda (FDLR).
“Supporting the FARDC whereas it fights side-by-side with the FDLR tantamounts to supporting an armed genocidal group,” Claver Gatete, the Rwandan Representative to the United Nations, declared during a UN Security Council meeting.
Gatete implicitly accused MONUSCO of supporting former authors of the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
He called on the UN Security Council to condemn the alliance between DR Congo and the FDLR. He exhorted MONUSCO to “avoid all military cooperation with the FARDC as long as they are allies to negative forces”.
The Rwandan Representative to the UN noted that M23 was the only armed group defeated through the help of the Intervention Brigade of the United Nations in 2013, adding that he was worried by the “selective approach and double standards in the fight against armed groups in DR Congo”.
Gatete recalled the pertinence of the regional approach recommended by the second conclave of heads of state on DR Congo held on April 21, 2022, to discuss the situation in the eastern part of the country.
He called on DR Congo to respect its obligations towards the regional accords and fully incorporate all the groups within the context of a convenient peace accord.
The Security Council meeting witnessed the exhaustive revelations by Bintou Keita, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in the country who doubles as MONUSCO chief of mission, as well as a tense exchange of views between the representatives of DR Congo and Rwanda.
The MONUSCO chief of the mission also revealed that M23 offensives had significantly impacted civilian lives, with more than 170,000 civilians displaced.
Keita pleaded with the Security Council to redouble its efforts in favour of a rapid de-escalation of the situation and an unconditional disarming of the M23.
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