The United States tells Rwanda and Congo they must ‘walk back from the brink of war’
UNITED NATIONS — The United States told Rwanda and Congo on Tuesday that they must “walk back from the brink of war,” the sharpest warning yet of a looming conflict between the African neighbors.
US Deputy Ambassador Robert Wood issued the warning at an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council convened by France as violence has worsened in Congo’s mineral-rich east, which borders Rwanda.
Wood said Rwanda and Congo, along with “regional actors,” should immediately resume diplomatic talks. “These regional diplomatic efforts, and not military conflict, are the only path to a negotiated solution and lasting peace,” he stressed.
The US warning follows the Rwandan Foreign Ministry’s rejection on Monday of the US call for the withdrawal of its troops and surface-to-air missile systems from eastern Congo.
The US State Department on Saturday also criticized rising violence caused by M23, a Rwandan-backed armed group.
French UN Ambassador Nicolas de Rivière also condemned M23’s recent offensive against Sake and Rwanda’s support for the group and its presence on Congolese territory. “This must end,” he said, emphasizing that “a threshold has been crossed” by the deployment of anti-aircraft systems in Congo.
The Rwandan ministry’s statement said its troops are defending Rwandan territory while Congo carries out a “dramatic military build-up” near the border.
The ministry spoke of threats to Rwandan national security posed by the presence in Congo of an armed group that includes the alleged perpetrators of the 1994 genocide that killed more than 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus who tried to kill them. to protect.
The rebel group, known by its initials FDLR, “is fully integrated into” the Congolese army, the statement said. Although Rwanda has long cited a threat from FLDR, authorities there have never admitted a military presence in eastern Congo.
The Congolese authorities accuse the Central African country of actively supporting M23.
Congolese UN Ambassador Zenon Ngay Mukongo urged the Security Council to demand that Rwanda withdraw its troops from the country without preconditions and stop all support for M23.
He accused the Rwandan army of illegally occupying part of the eastern province of North Kivu and supporting M23 to destabilize Congo and plunder “our resources, our wealth of ore and minerals” in the east.
Mukongo told the council that no FDLR attack from Congolese territory against Rwanda has been recorded in more than 20 years. As for Rwandan fears of genocide, he said the Tutsi minority has power over the Hutu majority, and that will never happen in Congo, which he said has hundreds of tribes, “and we live together.”
He emphasized that Tutsis in Congo are Congolese, and that “the problems of the Congolese Tutsis in Congo will be solved by Congolese.”
“So stay home!” Mukongo said, as Rwandan UN Ambassador Ernest Rwamucyo sat across from him at the horseshoe-shaped Security Council table.
Rwamucyo said the integration of the “genocidal FDLR” into the Congolese army is government policy and a major concern for his country.
This alliance continues to attack innocent Kinyarwanda-speaking Tutsis with violence, hate speech and killings, he said.
“As a result, we are on the verge of a very serious catastrophe in the region,” he said, warning of another possible genocide.
The recent escalation of the conflict in eastern Congo comes in the context of calls from the presidents of Congo and Burundi for regime change in Rwanda, Rwamucyo said.
To resolve the complex security challenges in the region, he said, it is “a non-negotiable requirement” to end Congo’s support for the FDLR and ensure the demobilization and repatriation of the armed group to Rwanda.
Fighting near Goma, the region’s largest city, has intensified in recent days as M23 rebels threatened to take over the metropolis. Residents of the nearby town of Sake are fleeing heavy fighting between Congolese government forces and the group.
French UN Ambassador Nicolas de Rivière condemned M23’s recent offensive against Sake and Rwanda’s support for M23 and its presence on Ciongolese territory. “This must end,” he said, emphasizing that “a threshold has been crossed” by the deployment of anti-aircraft systems in Congo.
Wood, the US deputy ambassador, urged the international community to take immediate steps to end the fighting and de-escalate tensions between Congo and Rwanda.
Millions of people are facing a serious humanitarian crisis and the scale of displacement, human rights violations and gender-based violence is “appalling”, he said.
Eastern Congo was already experiencing one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, with nearly six million people previously displaced due to conflict, according to the UN Refugee Agency. There are concerns that another disaster could go largely unnoticed because of the attention on the war in Gaza and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Wood reiterated US calls for M23 to immediately halt attacks and withdraw from the area, and for Rwanda to end its support for the armed group and immediately withdraw its troops and missile systems from Congo.