Tension is at its height in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The "security" situation in this region, plagued by armed groups, is "worse than ever", Rwandan President Paul Kagame even estimated on Saturday.

He blamed it on the authorities in Kinshasa.

Fighting in the troubled eastern DRC, a region rich in mineral resources, between government forces and rebels from the M23, a former Tutsi rebellion, has heightened tensions with neighboring Rwanda, which the DRC accuses of encouraging the militia .

Kigali denies any involvement.

Brussels tries to calm Kigali

In a report published in December, experts mandated by the United Nations claim to have collected "substantial evidence" demonstrating "the direct intervention of the Rwandan Defense Forces (RDF) in the territory of the DRC", at least between November 2021 and October 2022. The European Union thus called on Rwanda on Saturday to "stop supporting the M23".

"It is high time that the unjustified defamation against Rwanda ceases," replied Paul Kagame.

The M23 has conquered in recent months large swaths of the territory of North Kivu, a Congolese province bordering Rwanda, progressing up to a few tens of kilometers from Goma.

Rwanda has repeatedly blamed the crisis in eastern DRC on authorities in Kinshasa and accused the international community of turning a blind eye to its supposed support for the FDLR (Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda), a movement Rwandan Hutu rebels, some of whom were involved in the 1994 Tutsi genocide in Rwanda.

Presented as a threat by Kigali, the existence and violence of this militia justified past Rwandan interventions in Congolese territory.

An East African regional force on the spot

Rwanda has further accused the DRC, where the presidential election is scheduled for December 2023, of instrumentalizing the conflict for electoral purposes and of having "fabricated" a massacre which, according to a United Nations investigation, was committed at the end of November. by the M23 and claimed the lives of at least 131 civilians in the villages of Kishishe and Bambo, according to a still provisional report.

Diplomatic initiatives have also been launched to try to resolve the crisis in eastern DRC where an East African regional force, led by Kenya, is being deployed.

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  • World

  • Democratic Republic of Congo

  • Rwanda

  • Goma

  • Kinshasa

  • European Union (EU)