Tensions continue to rise between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as Kinshasa accuses Kigali of deploying at least 500 troops on its soil. The accusation comes amid a sharp deterioration of relations between the countries over the recent resurgence of the M23 militia in the DRC’s volatile east.
DRC has accused Rwanda of backing the rebel group an accusation that Rwanda has vehemently denied. The recent wave of tension was triggered after DRC said that it arrested and detained two Rwandese soldiers in the volatile region which is proof of the nation’s involvement in the current crisis.
DRC’s army spokesman in eastern North Kivu province, General Sylvain Ekenge, accused Rwanda of fielding hundreds of troops beyond its borders. He said that the Rwandese soldiers were deployed to the Tshanzu area in North Kivu and had changed their military uniforms to conceal themselves alongside the M23 rebels. Additionally, he said Rwanda had deployed 500 special forces troops “dressed in green-black fatigues.”
Relations between the DRC and Rwanda have been strained since the mass arrival in the eastern DRC of Rwandan Hutus accused of slaughtering Tutsis during the 1994 Rwanda genocide. The M23, a primarily Congolese Tutsi group, is one of more than 120 armed groups roaming eastern DRC.
Rwanda has in turn accused DRC’s army of firing into its territory and of fighting alongside the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), an armed group run by ethnic Hutus who fled Rwanda and are alleged to have been involved in the country’s 1994 genocide.
