Goma, (APP – UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News – 9th Jul, 2024) Some 3,000-4,000 Rwandan soldiers fought alongside M23 rebels in east DR Congo, said a UN expert report seen by AFP Monday, which noted that Kigali had “de facto control” of the group’s operations.
The DR Congo’s North Kivu province has been in the grip of the M23 (March 23 Movement) rebellion since the end of 2021, with the group seizing swathes of territory and installing a parallel regime in areas under its control.
Kinshasa has accused Rwanda of backing the Tutsi-led M23 rebel group. Kigali has never acknowledged its troops were operating in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
But the report commissioned by the UN Security Council said the Rwandan army’s “de facto control and direction over M23 operations” renders the country “liable for the actions of M23”.
Rwandan military activity in Nyiragongo, Rutshuru, and Masisi territories — all in North Kivu — “were critical to the impressive territorial expansion achieved between January and March 2024” by the M23, the report stated.
Rwandan government spokesperson Yolande Makolo accused the Democratic Republic of Congo of having “consistently threatened war on Rwanda”, and said Kigali “will continue to defend itself”.
The report’s researchers estimated that at the time of writing in April, Rwandan troops were “matching if not surpassing” the number of M23 soldiers, thought to be at around 3,000.
Until the end of 2023, Rwandan authorities publicly denied that their troops were operating alongside M23 rebels in North Kivu, but have not directly commented since then.
The report contains authenticated photographs, drone footage, video recordings, testimony, and intelligence, which it says confirm the Rwandan military’s systematic border incursions.
The footage and photos show uniformed men with artillery and armoured vehicles featuring radar and anti-aircraft missile systems, as well as troop carriers.
The UN’s Special Representative in DRC Bintou Keita told AFP that “M23 tend to dictate what (UN) peacekeepers can or cannot do” — taking a toll on relief operations and local people.
“I think it’s unacceptable that an armed group under sanctions is going to dictate to a peacekeeping mission,” said Keita, also head of the MONUSCO peacekeeping force in the country which is due to withdraw from North Kivu at Kinshasa’s request.
She earlier said that Rwandan support was “enabling (M23) to make major territorial gains across Eastern DRC”.
Washington’s UN envoy Stephanie Sullivan called for the Security Council to oppose the withdrawal of UN peacekeepers from North Kivu.
