UNITED NATIONS –
Security in mineral-rich eastern Congo has deteriorated since recent elections, with a rebel group reportedly linked to neighboring Rwanda making “significant gains and expanding its territory,” the U.N. special envoy for the African nation ravaged by conflict.
Bintou Keita told the UN Security Council that this has created “an even more disastrous humanitarian situation, with internal displacement reaching unprecedented numbers.”
Last month, the United States told Rwanda and Congo that they “must step back from the brink of war,” the sharpest warning yet of impending conflict.
US Deputy Ambassador Robert Wood again condemned “the aggressive military incursion” into eastern Congo by rebel group M23 and the Rwanda Defense Forces and attacks, including against UN peacekeepers.
He called on the leaders of Rwanda and Congo “to make the decision to seek peace, for the good of their people, the region and the world.”
Wood described M23 as “a group that has carried out egregious human rights abuses against civilians, including sexual and gender-based violence.”
He called the failure of the international community to condemn the actions of Rwanda, which is a major troop contributor to UN peacekeeping forces, “baffling” and said “the UN should reassess the credibility of Rwanda as a constructive partner in peacekeeping.”
Last month, the US State Department called for the withdrawal of Rwandan troops and surface-to-air missile systems from eastern Congo and criticized the M23, calling it an armed group “backed by Rwanda.”
Rwanda’s Foreign Ministry said last month that the country’s troops are defending Rwandan territory as Congo carries out a “dramatic military escalation” near the border.
The ministry statement said Rwanda’s national security is threatened by the presence in Congo of an armed group whose members include alleged perpetrators of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, during which more than 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus who tried to protect them They were killed.
The rebel group, known by its acronym FDLR, “is fully integrated” into the Congolese army, according to the statement. Although Rwanda has long cited a threat posed by the FLDR, authorities had never admitted a military presence in eastern Congo.
Wood said the United States recognizes that the FDLR “is an ongoing threat to the Congolese people and a threat to the security of Rwanda that must be addressed.”
At Wednesday’s Council meeting, the Congolese and Rwandan ambassadors attacked each other again.
Congolese ambassador Zenon Ngay Mukongo called the M23 and Rwandan forces a “coalition of the axis of evil.”
He said a meeting of heads of state is planned for April and that Congo seeks lasting peace throughout the country and that it “will not accept window dressing arrangements aimed at perpetuating the insecurity and confusion” that encourage the M23 and the “blatant exploitation of strategic territories” by Rwanda. minerals” in eastern Congo.
Rwandan Ambassador Ernest Rwamucyo reiterated his government’s serious concerns about the FDLR and called on Congo to resolve security issues involving many rebel groups.
“We must also raise awareness about the dangers of genocide, the ideology that has spread to the Democratic Republic of the Congo,” the initials of Congo’s official name, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, he said.
Keita, the U.N. envoy, told the council that Angola’s mediation between the countries has resumed.
In response to a subsequent question from reporters about Wednesday’s confrontation between the ambassadors, he said he firmly believes this mediation and other efforts to reduce tensions should be supported “despite the discontent we saw” in the council.