• The aircraft, which was carrying the eight peacekeepers, was flying over a combat zone between the army and the M23 rebellion (March 23 Movement) in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

  • An unidentified "luminous object" allegedly caused the helicopter to crash.

  • According to the UN, the eight bodies were brought back to Goma, capital of North Kivu.

Eight blue helmets died on Tuesday in the crash of a Puma helicopter from the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (Monusco).

The aircraft was flying over a combat zone between the army and the M23 rebellion (March 23 Movement) in the east of the country.

A "luminous object", the nature of which remains to be determined, would have caused the crash of the helicopter, according to initial elements of the investigation made public Wednesday by the UN mission in the country.

"The first preliminary remarks from our force staff report a crash which would have been caused by a luminous object", declared on RFI Khassim Diagne, deputy special representative for protection and operations within MONUSCO. .

Information confirmed by Ndèye Khady Lo, deputy spokesperson for the UN Mission.

"The remains of the helicopter have been found, an investigation is underway and should make it possible to learn more about the nature of this object," she added.

According to her, the cause of the crash therefore seems "external" but it is "premature" to conclude that it is "not an accident".

Army and rebels accuse each other

The crash occurred while the helicopter was on reconnaissance in the Tchanzu area, in Rutshuru territory (North Kivu province), where clashes had been opposing the Congolese army to the M23 rebels since the day before.

Army and rebels accuse each other of having "shot down" the aircraft.

The bodies of the eight peacekeepers who died in the crash - six Pakistanis, a Russian and a Serb - were brought back to Goma, capital of North Kivu, said Monusco.

Accusations against Rwanda

General Sylvain Ekenge, spokesman for the governor of North Kivu, on Monday accused the Rwanda Defense Forces (RDF) of supporting the M23 which, he said, “led incursions and attacked FARDC positions” ( Congolese Armed Forces) in two localities in Rutshuru territory.

Also called the "Congolese Revolutionary Army", the M23 comes from a former Congolese Tutsi rebellion once supported by Rwanda and Uganda.

Defeated in 2013, the M23 has been talking about it again since November, attacking military positions and accusing Kinshasa of not having respected commitments on the demobilization of its combatants.

On Monday evening on TV5 Monde, the Congolese Minister of Communication and government spokesperson, Patrick Muyaya, used the conditional but nevertheless drove home the point: "It is time to put an end to this form of hypocrisy which would exist or this form of complicity between the M23 and the government of Rwanda”, he declared, “because we want to look at Rwanda as a partner country”.

Rwanda denies

“Rwanda does not support the M23 politically or militarily.

Commitment reaffirmed with the Minister (of Foreign Affairs) for joint verification and cooperation in relation to the allegations in progress”, tweeted for his part the Rwandan ambassador to the DRC, Vincent Karega.

"We categorically refute the baseless accusations" of the Congolese army, had already replied the governor of the Rwandan province of the West, François Habitegeko.

The Rwandan army "is in no way involved in belligerent activities" in the DRC, he added.

In a video message, Willy Ngoma, spokesperson for the M23, also affirmed that the movement was "Congolese" and did not receive "any help, neither near nor far, from any neighboring country".

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