After the failure of mediation between the DRC and Rwanda under the aegis of Angola, the M23 armed group and 3,000 to 4,000 Rwandan soldiers, according to the UN, have rapidly gained ground in recent weeks.
Kigali implicated at the UN Security Council
The UN Security Council, meeting urgently on Sunday, denounced the “shameless disregard” for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the DRC. The members of the Council “demand the immediate withdrawal of forces”, without explicitly naming them, according to a statement published Sunday evening, which refers to a report by UN experts who denounced the presence of Rwandan forces in the DRC and their support to the M23 armed group which is fighting the Congolese army.
Earlier, during the Security Council, Kinshasa accused Rwanda of having “declared war” on it by sending new troops to support the M23 which is besieging Goma, a Rwandan border town where there are a million inhabitants and almost as many of displaced people.
A few hours earlier, UN Secretary General António Guterres, who had not so clearly blamed Kigali until then, called on “the Rwandan Defense Forces to stop supporting the M23 and to withdraw from the territory of the DRC.
Several member states also pointed the finger at Rwanda, notably France, the United States and the United Kingdom, during this meeting.
-Failure to respect previous ceasefires
Sunday evening, Kigali indicated that it was placing itself in a “sustainable defensive posture” in view of the evolution of the fighting on the other side of the border. “Both the Luanda and Nairobi processes urgently require new impetus, in order to achieve lasting peace and stability for all countries in our region,” Kigali also said.
Half a dozen ceasefires have already been declared and then violated in eastern DRC. The latest one was signed at the end of July.
In December, a meeting between Félix Tshisekedi and Paul Kagame, as part of the peace process led by Angola, designated mediator by the African Union, was canceled for lack of agreement on the conditions of an agreement.
