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The European Union on Saturday urged Rwanda to stop supporting the M23 rebel group, which has captured swathes of territory in the North Kivu province of the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo.
The Democratic Republic of Congo, along with the United States and several European countries, has repeatedly accused Rwanda, its smaller Central African neighbor, of backing the M23, but the latter denies the accusation.
The Tutsi rebel group has advanced in recent months to a few tens of kilometers from the provincial capital, Goma.
The EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said on Saturday that the European bloc urged Rwanda to “stop supporting the M23 and use all means to pressure the M23 to comply with the decisions made by the EAC (Community East Africa)” and at a November summit in Angola.
“It also strongly urges all states in the region to prevent any kind of support for armed groups active in the DRC,” Borrell said.
It demanded that Kinshasa “take all necessary measures to protect the civilian population on its territory.”
Under strong international pressure to disarm, the M23 joined a ceremony last week to hand over the strategic town of Kibumba to an East African military force as a “goodwill gesture” for peace.
The EAC also said the group should withdraw to the border between the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and Rwanda.
However, the Congolese army was quick to describe Kibumba’s handover as a “farce”.
Borrell’s comments came after the publication of a UN expert report on the Democratic Republic of the Congo which indicated that he had collected evidence of “direct intervention” by the Rwandan defense forces inside the territory of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. between at least November 2021 and last October.
The experts’ report says that Rwandan troops launched operations to reinforce the M23 against the mainly Hutu Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), in particular by supplying weapons, ammunition and uniforms.
Kigali sees the FDLR as a threat that justifies interventions inside the DRC.
Rwanda also accused the Democratic Republic of Congo, where presidential elections are scheduled for next December, of using the conflict for political purposes and of “manufacturing” a massacre of at least 131 civilians in November.
A UN inquiry blamed the deaths on M23 rebels.
Prior to the massacre, Angola had been brokering peace talks designed to pave the way for a truce agreement.
(AFP)
