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DRC authorities have denied its troopers entered a impartial zone and opened hearth on Rwanda’s troops as tensions rise between the nations.
Rwanda’s military has stated its troops briefly exchanged hearth with troopers from the Democratic Republic of the Congo at a border submit, as stress continues to spike between the neighbours.
In a press release on Wednesday, Kigali stated that 12 to 14 Congolese troopers entered the impartial zone close to the western district of Rusizi and opened hearth at a Rwandan border submit, in “an act of provocation”.
“Our safety forces responded and [the Congolese] troopers withdrew,” the assertion stated. “There have been no casualties on the Rwanda facet and the state of affairs is calm.”
In the meantime, Kinshasa has denied coming into the impartial zone and stated there have been clashes between its navy and a gaggle of “bandits” close to the border in Bukavu.
“In no case did the [army] cross the impartial zone, not to mention open hearth within the path of Rwanda,” Theo Ngwabidje Kasi, governor of South Kivu province, stated in a press release.
He stated the accusations have been “a lie” and described the incident as an “altercation” involving an change of fireside between the Congolese safety forces and “bandits,” who sustained one useless and one wounded.
“Rwanda’s tendency to need to painting itself as a sufferer and stoke tensions by making false accusations reveals with none doubt its intention to assault South Kivu province, as is at the moment the case within the warfare of aggression that it’s finishing up in North Kivu,” he added.
Rising tensions
The incident happens in opposition to a backdrop of present tensions between the DRC and its smaller neighbour over an offensive within the jap Congolese province of North Kivu.
Final month, Rwanda accused a Congolese fighter jet of violating its airspace close to Goma, a city on North Kivu’s border. The airplane got here underneath hearth however was capable of land safely in Goma.
Kinshasa described the assault on its plane as “a deliberate act of aggression that equals an act of warfare” with the aim of sabotaging regional peace efforts.
The DRC for months has accused Rwanda of supporting an armed insurgent group referred to as M23, that’s preventing within the DRC’s east.
The battle in jap DRC has gone on for many years, with greater than 100 armed teams preventing for management of useful mineral assets whereas others defend their communities, and has triggered an exodus of refugees.
Rwanda in flip accuses the DRC of supporting the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), one other insurgent group primarily based within the DRC that has carried out raids into Rwanda up to now.
The FDLR has been accused of participation within the 1994 Rwandan genocide, during which ethnic Hutus killed greater than 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and average Hutus who tried to guard them.
Final yr, United Nations consultants stated that they had “substantial proof” of Rwandan authorities forces crossing into the DRC to bolster M23 rebels or to conduct operations in opposition to the FDLR.
America and the European Union have urged Rwanda to stop supporting the rebels.
The Rwandan authorities has denied supporting M23 and says the accusations are a part of a “drained previous blame recreation” undermining efforts for peace, “to which Rwanda is absolutely dedicated”.
Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame has stated DRC authorities ought to remedy their very own issues. In January he stated that the disaster within the DRC “isn’t Rwanda’s drawback, and we’re going to be sure that all people realises it isn’t Rwanda’s drawback”.
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