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Thursday 18 October 2012

DR Congo: UN Report: Rwanda Defence Minister Leading DRC Rebels

A confidential report by the UN Security Council’s Group of Experts seen by the Reuters news agency says the Rwanda is effectively commanding the Congolese M23 rebels who have been fighting government troops since April.

By Staff Writer

KINSHASA--Rwanda’s defence minister is systematically commanding a rebel group in the restive eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo, UN experts say.

A confidential report by the UN Security Council’s Group of Experts seen by the Reuters news agency says the Rwanda is effectively commanding the Congolese M23 rebels who have been fighting government troops since April.

The dossier which is a build up of the UN report on the conflict in eastern DR Congo published in June, charges also that Uganda was backing the rebel outfit. So far both Rwanda and Uganda have denied the claims of any involvement with the rebels.

The report says Kigali has continued to arm the M23 fighters with heavy weapons and stepped up conscription for the rebel movement.

M23 leaders leaders "receive direct military orders" from Rwanda's chief of defence staff, Gen Charles Kayonga, "who in turn acts on instructions from the minister of defence", Gen James Kabarebe.

The 44-page report seen on Tuesday by Reuters asserts that “"Both Rwanda and Uganda have been supporting M23", saying army units from both countries have helped the group expand its control of territory in Eastern DRC.

"While Rwandan officials co-ordinated the creation of the rebel movement as well as its major military operations, Uganda's more subtle support to M23 allowed the rebel group's political branch to operate from within Kampala and boost its external relations," it said.

Countering claims by the report Olivier Nduhungirehe a senior Rwandan diplomat with the UN peace keeping mission in Congo, MONUSCO, said the UN experts had been "allowed to pursue a political agenda that has nothing to do with getting at the true causes of conflict in the eastern DRC".

Uganda’s foreign minister Henry Okello Oryem has objected the report saying that the UN was seeking to blame others for the failure of its own peacekeeping force in the eastern Congo.

The M23 movement comprised mainly of Congolese Tutsis, derive its name from the March 23 2009 peace deal that ended rebellions in eastern DR Congo and saw its fighters integrated into the Congolese national FARDC army.

Led by General Bosco Ntaganda, the renegade soldiers deserted their ranks in the army in April over failure by the government to honour the March 23 deal and have since been fighting government troops in North Kivu province in eastern DR Congo.

The eastern DR Congo conflict is said to be a spill over from the Rwandan 1994 genocide where Congolese Tutsi rebels are reportedly armed by the Rwandan government officials to fight Rwandan Hutu rebels in Congo whom the Kigali claims are being aided by the Kinshasa government.

The UN June report said there was ample evidence that Kigali was actively involved in the M23 rebellion. The recent build up says General Bosco Ntaganda controls the rebellion on the ground and M23 leader Col Sultani Makenga is in charge of co-ordination with allied groups.

Gen Ntaganda known as “the Terminator” is wanted by The Hague based International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity, committed during years he fought for various militias.

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