KIGALI, Rwanda
Rwanda’s army said its troops briefly exchanged fire with soldiers from Congo early Wednesday, in a new spike in tension between the neighbors who have accused each other of supporting armed rebel groups on the other side of the border. Congo denied that account.
A statement said that twelve
to fourteen Congolese soldiers entered the no man’s land near the western
district of Rusizi and opened fire at a Rwandan border post, in “an act of
provocation.”
“Our security forces responded
and (the Congolese) soldiers withdrew,” the Rwandan statement said. “There were
no casualties on the Rwanda side and the situation is calm.”
Congo’s government said there
were clashes between its military and a group of “bandits” near the border in
Bukavu, but denied entering the neutral zone.
“In no case did the (army)
cross the neutral zone, let alone open fire in the direction of Rwanda,” Theo
Ngwabidje Kasi, governor of South Kivu province, said in a statement.
Congo for months has accused
Rwanda of supporting an armed rebel group called M23, that’s fighting in
eastern Congo.
The conflict in eastern Congo
has gone on for decades, with more than 100 armed groups fighting for control
of valuable mineral resources while others protect their communities, and has
triggered an exodus of refugees.
Rwanda in turn accuses Congo
of supporting the FDLR, a Rwandan armed rebel group based in Congo that has
carried out raids into Rwanda in the past. The FDLR has been accused of
participation in the 1994 Rwandan genocide, in which ethnic Hutus killed more
than 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus who tried to protect them.
United Nations experts in
December said they had “substantial evidence” of Rwandan government forces
crossing into Congo to reinforce M23 rebels or to conduct operations against
the FDLR. The United States, France and Germany have urged Rwanda to stop
supporting the rebels.
The Rwandan government has
denied supporting M23 and says the accusations are part of a “tired old blame
game” undermining efforts for peace, “to which Rwanda is fully committed.”
Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame
has said Congolese authorities should solve their own problems. In January he
said that the crisis in Congo “is not Rwanda’s problem, and we are going to
make sure that everybody realizes it is not Rwanda’s problem.”
Last month, Rwanda said it
fired on Congo military aircraft it accused of violating its airspace and urged
Congo to stop the “aggression.”
But Congo’s government said
the incident occurred in Congolese airspace near the city of Goma’s
international airport. It said the plane landed without major damage.
Congo had described the attack
on its aircraft as “a deliberate act of aggression that equals an act of war”
with the goal of sabotaging regional peace efforts.
Regional leaders called for a
cease-fire in eastern Congo and ordered a withdrawal of rebels from major towns
under M23 control — which hasn’t happened.
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