KIGALI – Rwanda says it is deeply concerned by the international community’s “indifference to DRC’s dramatic military build-up” following recent massive combat operations in North Kivu.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on February 18 said the operations are in contravention with the Luanda and Nairobi peace processes, and aim to expel M23 and Congolese Tutsi civilians into neighboring countries.
Terming this as an abandonment of the Luanda and Nairobi processes, Kigali accused the DRC government of working in concert with the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a Rwandan ethnic armed rebel group active in the eastern DRC.
“The recent M23 advances are due to the DRC’s decision to expel the East African Community Regional Force in December 2023, which oversaw ceasefire and withdrawal efforts.
“Protecting the rights and lives of Congolese Tutsi is the responsibility of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The consistent failure to do so has exposed the entire Great Lakes Region to thirty years of conflict and instability. Hundreds of thousands of Congolese Tutsi have lived as refugees in East Africa for decades, essentially forgotten,” the ministry said in a statement.
Rwanda further accused the administration of President Félix Tshisekedi of “hate speech and crude tribalism”, saying ethnic discrimination and targeted arrests and killings have become routine.
“FDLR is fully integrated into the Congolese Armed Forces (FARDC), as repeatedly documented by the UN Group of Experts,” it added. Taken together, Kigali says, these facts represent a serious threat to its national security and that the M23 issue must be resolved politically amongst Congolese.
“It will not be accepted for the problem to be externalized into Rwanda, by force, once again”.
The statement follows a letter to UNSC by Foreign Affairs Minister Vincent Biruta, in which he warned against offering the SADC mission in DRC logistical support.
It also follows a statement by the State Department in which the United States condemned Rwanda’s support for the M23 and called on Kigali to immediately withdraw all its armed forces from the DRC.
In the February 17 statement, the US also said Rwanda should remove its surface-to-air missile systems, “which threaten the lives of civilians, UN and other regional peacekeepers, humanitarian actors, and commercial flights in eastern DRC”.
But Rwanda responds, saying the Congolese political and military leadership, including President Tshisekedi, have repeatedly declared their intention to invade Rwanda and change its government by force, thus pushing it to put in place measures to ensure complete air defense of Rwandan territory.
This is after DRC in July 2023 acquired nine advanced Chinese CH-4 attack drones, and what Kigali says are repeated violations of Rwandan air space by Congolese fighter jets.
The move was seen as a huge boost to DRC’s military capacity in tackling the insurgency in the eastern region led by Rwanda-backed M23, and other armed rebels.
According to UAS Vision, CH-4 is a medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that can carry a variety of weapons, including air-to-surface missiles and bombs.
The affordability of Chinese drones, combined with the less stringent conditions attached to their purchase, makes them an attractive option for countries seeking to bolster their defense capabilities, UAS Vision, an independent global forum for the Unmanned Aircraft Systems community, says.
The CH-4 combat drone is a medium-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that has the capacity to carry various weapons, including air-to-surface missiles and bombs.
The drones were to be stationed at the South Kavumu military airport, strategically located within range of the conflict zone.
Kigali said Washington’s statement fundamentally distorts these realities, and that it reserves the right to take any legitimate measures to defend its territory, so long as this threat exists.
