Tensions between Congo and Rwanda heighten the risk of military confrontation, UN envoy says
UNITED NATIONS — Tensions between Congo and Rwanda have escalated, raising the risk of a military confrontation in Burundi, the top UN official in Congo warned the Security Council on Monday.
Special Representative Bintou Keita's warning came shortly before ambassadors from Congo and Rwanda made accusations in the council, and nine days before Congo's December 20 presidential election, in which President Felix Tshisekedi is seeking a second term against about 20 candidates.
As elections approach, the Congolese government is also redoubling its efforts to withdraw regional and international peacekeepers, including the more than 17,700-member UN force. A regional force of officers from East African countries began leaving eastern Congo's largest city, Goma, last week.
Tshisekedi has long accused Rwanda and its president, Paul Kagame, of providing military support to M23 rebels, the latest iteration of Congolese Tutsi fighters who are capturing towns in parts of mineral-rich North Kivu. The UN and human rights groups accuse M23 of atrocities including rape and mass killings and say it receives support from Rwanda – but Rwanda denies any links to the rebels.
Keita told the council that the eastern provinces are facing escalating insecurity, “especially in relation to the renewed M23 crisis.” But she said new areas of insecurity have also emerged in other parts of the country, particularly in the Greater Katanga region and Mai-Ndombe and Tshopo provinces.
She stressed that insecurity has “exacerbated the ongoing humanitarian crisis.”
According to the UN humanitarian agency, more than 6.5 million people have been displaced in Congo, including 5.5 million in the three eastern provinces. “According to preliminary figures, more than 500,000 people have fled their homes since early October following renewed hostilities between the M23 and Congolese forces,” Keita said.
Congolese Ambassador Zenon Mukongo accused Rwandan soldiers of supporting the M23 rebels, citing events that began in November 2022.
He reiterated his country's call for “an end to Rwandan aggression”, the withdrawal of its troops and “the eradication of armed interest groups in Congo, including M23”, and urged the Security Council to take action to to achieve this.
More than 120 armed groups are fighting for land and control of valuable minerals in Congo's eastern regions.
Rwanda's new UN ambassador, Ernest Rwamucyo, accused the Congolese government “and its coalition of illegal armed militias… and foreign mercenaries” of violating a regional peace process.
He said Congo's termination of the African Regional Force undermines “all regional efforts to bring peace” to eastern Congo and urged the government to return to the agreements.
Regarding the upcoming elections, Keita said the campaign started relatively peacefully, but violent clashes between supporters of rival political parties are taking place in many provinces.
The UN envoy said she is also “alarmed by the spread of disinformation and hate speech, online and offline” during the campaign and called on all parties to end these practices.
Keita, head of the UN peacekeeping force, said she signed a joint withdrawal plan with Foreign Minister Christope Lutundula on November 21. It did not reveal details, but it called for a phased withdrawal of MONUSCO forces.
U.N. peacekeepers have faced protests and criticism from residents who see them as toothless and unable to protect civilians in Congo, which has a population of 100 million and is the world's largest cobalt producer and fifth-largest producer of copper.
President Tshisekedi, who has called for the departure of UN peacekeepers, told a meeting on Sunday that the United Nations “came to help and protect the Congolese people, but it did not work.”