Highlights: The DRC welcomes the French position on the M23, but calls for sanctions against Rwanda. First time that France has mentioned the presence of Rwandan soldiers in eastern DRC. At least 135,000 people have been displaced since the beginning of February, according to the UN. The displaced have arrived en masse at the gates of Goma, already overpopulated by other families who fled the war which has lasted since the end of 2021. New sites are being created including that of Lac Vert, which is located near the front line and a military camp.

Tuesday February 20, France called on “Rwanda to cease all support for the M23” active in the east of the DRC, but above all Paris asked Kigali to “withdraw from Congolese territory”. First time…

The DRC welcomes the French position on the M23, but calls for sanctions against Rwanda

Tuesday February 20, France called on “

Rwanda to cease all support for the M23

” active in the east of the DRC, but above all Paris asked Kigali to “

withdraw from Congolese territory

”.

First time that France has mentioned the presence of Rwandan soldiers in eastern DRC.

For the Congolese authorities, we must go further.

Félix Tshisekedi and Paul Kagame, heads of state of the DRC and Rwanda.

By: RFI Follow

On the side of the Congolese presidency, we welcome the evolution of French semantics

which now evokes the presence of Rwandan soldiers

on Congolese soil.

But simple declarations are no longer enough, as Giscard Kusema, head of presidential communications, explains: “

We think that Rwanda is waging a predatory war.
We need economic sanctions, as we do for any state that is going to attack another.
The DRC cannot explain that there are contracts which continue to be signed between Western powers and Rwanda for minerals which they do not have on its soil.
We find this attitude suspicious and it is a guilty silence on the part of all the other States which do not comment on this question.

French diplomacy assures that there is no taboo around the question of sanctions against Rwanda, but these are not on the program, for Christophe Lemoine, spokesperson for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs: “

The The question of sanctions is not raised at the moment.
Once again, the framework for discussions is the framework of the Luanda process and there are no sanctions that have been mentioned.
Sanctions are used in international relations when there really is a serious escalation and we want to send a strong message.
For the moment, this is not a subject that is on the table.

Currently, the European Union, the United Nations and the United States

have placed several leaders

of the M23, the FDLR and other armed groups operating in the DRC under sanctions.

In North Kivu, the front line is approaching the camps for displaced people

In eastern DRC, fighting in Saké has pushed at least 135,000 people onto the roads since the beginning of February, according to the UN.

The new round of clashes between the M23 rebels, supported by Rwanda, and the Congolese army, allied with Wazalendo militias, is extremely violent.

The displaced therefore arrived en masse at the gates of Goma, already overpopulated by other families who fled the war which has lasted since the end of 2021. New sites are being created including that of Lac Vert.

An exposed site since it is located near the front line and a military camp.

With our special correspondent in Goma,

Coralie Pierret

01:15

Almost daily, salvos are launched from the Congolese army camp

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The DRC welcomes the French position on the M23, but calls for sanctions against Rwanda

The DRC welcomes the French position on the M23, but calls for sanctions against Rwanda

In North Kivu, the front line is approaching the camps for displaced people

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