Rwandan President Paul Kagame has accused the Congo of supporting the rebels against his government, which has escalated tensions with a neighboring country, which in turn accuses Rwanda of supporting the rebels who recently seized control of the eastern Congo city.
In a televised speech, Kagame expressed his country’s concerns about Congolese’s alleged support for the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, a Congo-based rebel group that includes militants accused of participating in the 1994 genocide.
Kagame said Kongo is constantly arming a group whose fighters are accused of killing dozens of people in a 2019 attack on the northern Rwandan resort town of Kingi.
The President added: “This is recorded and confirmed by facts. The Congo supports the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda and, unfortunately, under the flag of Monosco”, referring to the United Nations peacekeeping mission.
Kagame also accused the Congo of trying to draw Rwanda “into its internal problems” and wondered how long his government would resist such a provocation.
He described the Congolese authorities as “behaving like spoiled children lately, making trouble and then starting to cry.”
Relations between the two countries have soured in recent weeks after the M23 rebel group last month captured the Congolese city of Bunagana on the border with Uganda, and Congolese authorities accused Rwandan forces of invading the Congo.
Rwanda has long denied its support for the M23, made up mostly of Congolese Tutsi fighters, who accuse their government of failing to honor earlier commitments to reintegrate them into the national army.
Source: Associated Press