DRC decides to expel Rwandan ambassador due to "support" to M23
The RN2, the main road linking Goma to Rutshuru and the Ugandan border, in eastern DRC, North Kivu, October 2022. © RFI/Paulina Zidi
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
The Congolese government decided on Saturday October 29 to expel Vincent Karega, Rwandan ambassador posted in Kinshasa.
The Congolese authorities say they have evidence, thanks to surveillance drones, of the massive arrival of Rwandan troops on Congolese soil to support the M23 rebel movement.
This one conquered the city of Rutshuru Center and that of Kiwanja on Saturday, causing thousands of new displaced people.
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Kinshasa, which accuses Kigali of supporting the M23 rebellion, has decided to expel Rwanda's ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Congolese government spokesman and Minister of Communication and Media Patrick Muyaya announced on Saturday evening. .
Vincent Karega has 48 hours to leave the DRC.
The M23 ("
Movement of March 23
"), a former Tutsi rebellion which took up arms again at the end of 2021,
gained ground on Saturday in the east of the DRC
, seizing in particular two cities, Kiwanja and
Rutshuru-center
, located on the national road 2, strategic axis serving Goma, capital of the province of North Kivu.
DRC President Félix Tshisekedi chaired Saturday in Kinshasa "
an enlarged meeting of the Higher Defense Council
", to assess the situation after "
a series of attacks and occupations of Congolese localities (...) by
the M23 supported by the Rwandan army
,” Patrick Muyaya said in a statement read on official television.
"
It has been observed in recent days a massive arrival of
elements of the Rwandan army to support the terrorists of the M23
for a general offensive against the positions of the Congolese armed forces
", he said.
"
In view of the above facts
", the "
Higher Defense Council requests the government to expel, within 48 hours of its notification, Mr. Vincent Karega
", Rwanda's ambassador to the DRC, due in particular
to "the persistence of his country to attack the DRC
,” added the spokesman.
The UN pointed to Rwandan involvement
Félix Tshisekedi will address the Congolese nation in the coming days regarding this file, added the minister.
Kinshasa has for months accused Kigali of supporting the M23.
An unpublished UN report seen by AFP in August pointed to Rwandan involvement with M23, and this week a US ambassador to the United Nations clearly referred to "
the assistance provided by the Rwandan Defense Forces to M23
".
Rwanda denies and accuses in return the DRC - which also denies - of collusion with the FDLR (Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda), a movement of Rwandan Hutu rebels, some of whom were involved in the genocide of Tutsis in 1994 in Rwanda .
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