Security in Congo’s mineral-rich eastern region has worsened since recent elections, with rebel groups allegedly linked to neighboring Rwanda making “significant gains and expanded territory.”
Bintou Keita told the U.N. Security Council that this had created “an even more catastrophic humanitarian situation, with unprecedented numbers of internally displaced people.”
Last month, the United States told Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo that they “must come back from the brink of war,” the starkest warning of looming conflict.
US Deputy Ambassador Robert Wood once again condemned the “aggressive military incursion” of the “March 23” rebel group and the Rwanda Defense Forces in eastern Congo and the attacks on United Nations peacekeepers.
He called on the leaders of Rwanda and Congo “to make decisions to pursue peace for the benefit of their peoples, the region and the world.”
Wood described M23 as “an organization that commits egregious human rights abuses against civilians, including sexual and gender-based violence.”
He called the international community’s failure to condemn the actions of Rwanda, a major troop contributor to U.N. peacekeeping forces, “frustrating” and said “the U.N. should reassess Rwanda’s credibility as a constructive partner in peacekeeping.”
The U.S. State Department last month called for the withdrawal of Rwandan troops and surface-to-air missile systems from eastern Congo and criticized the M23 movement, calling it a “Rwandan-backed” armed group.
Rwanda’s foreign ministry said last month that Congo was carrying out a “massive military buildup” near the border and that Rwandan troops were defending Rwandan territory.
The ministry’s statement said Rwanda’s national security is threatened by armed groups in Congo whose members include alleged perpetrators of the 1994 Rwanda genocide that killed more than 800,000 Tutsis and moderates trying to protect them Hutus were killed.
The rebel group, known by its acronym FDLR, is “fully integrated” into the Congolese army, the statement said. Although Rwanda has long cited the threat posed by RCD, the country’s authorities have never acknowledged a military presence in eastern Congo.
Wood said the United States recognized that the FDLR “posed an ongoing threat to the Congolese people and a security threat to Rwanda that must be addressed.”
Congolese and Rwandan ambassadors once again attacked each other during a Security Council meeting on Wednesday.
Congolese ambassador Zenon Ngay Mukongo called the M23 and Rwandan forces an “axis of evil alliance.”
He said that a meeting of heads of state is planned for April, and that Congo is seeking lasting peace throughout the country and “will not accept whitewash arrangements aimed at perpetuating insecurity and chaos” that encourage the “March 23” movement and Rwanda. Shamelessly exploiting a strategic position.” Minerals in Eastern Congo”.
Rwandan Ambassador Ernest Rwamusio reiterated the Rwandan government’s serious concerns about the FDLR and called on Congo to address security issues involving many of the rebel groups themselves.
“We should also raise awareness of the dangers of genocide, an ideology that has spread to the Democratic Republic of the Congo,” he said, the acronym for Congo’s official name, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
U.N. envoy Keita told the Security Council that Angola had resumed mediation between the two countries.
Responding later to a reporter’s question about Wednesday’s confrontation between the ambassadors, she said she firmly believed that such mediation and other efforts to ease tensions should be supported “despite the dissatisfaction we see in the Security Council.”
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