The military of the Democratic Republic of Congo has accused Rwanda of dressing up prisoners in navy uniforms in an effort to go them off as newly-captured rebels linked to the Rwandan genocide.
It comes after Rwanda-backed M23 rebels in japanese DR Congo mentioned that they had captured fighters from the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) – a militia based by ethnic Hutus who took half within the 1994 genocide towards Rwanda’s Tutsis.
However the DR Congo navy mentioned a video allegedly exhibiting the handover of 20 FDLR rebels at a border crossing was “faked”.
M23 fighters have been advancing by way of japanese DR Congo since January, seizing Bukavu and Goma, the most important metropolis within the area.
The preventing has pressured about 500,000 individuals from their houses, worsening an already dire humanitarian disaster, in accordance with the UN.
In its assertion, the Congolese navy mentioned the Rwandan video was a “faked incident in poor style orchestrated with the only goal of discrediting our military”.
It mentioned Rwanda had taken previous FDLR prisoners and dressed them in new navy uniforms to assert that they had been newly captured in Goma.
“That is a part of the Rwandan technique to justify the invasion of elements of the DRC’s territory,” it added.
Rwanda has used the presence of FDLR forces in japanese Congo to justify its help for the M23.
The nation beforehand denied backing the M23, nevertheless it has additionally careworn that as a result of FDLR presence in japanese Congo it has a proper to take navy motion in japanese Congo.
UN consultants have beforehand estimated that between 3,000 and 4,000 Rwandan troops are in japanese Congo.
UN consultants additionally reported final yr that the Congolese navy had been utilizing a number of armed teams, together with the FDLR, as proxies within the struggle towards the M23.
The genocide in Rwanda occurred over 100 days in 1994.
The ethnic Hutu militia concerned in killing as much as 800,000 individuals – the overwhelming majority from the Tutsi group – fled to what’s now DR Congo, some forming the FDLR.
Kagame, who headed the insurgent Tutsi power that ended the killing greater than three many years in the past, sees this “genocidal militia” as an existential risk.
On Thursday, gunfire and explosions ripped by way of a rally held by insurgent leaders in Bukavu, the second-biggest metropolis within the east. Movies confirmed chaotic scenes with our bodies on the streets after the group fled.
M23 rebels seized Bukavu from authorities forces final month following their fast advance by way of the area.
The rally had earlier been addressed by Corneille Nangaa, the pinnacle of an alliance of insurgent teams that features the M23.
The rebels accused DR Congo President Felix Tshisekedi’s authorities of orchestrating the assault. Nevertheless, Tshisekedi blamed it on “a international military” that he mentioned was working within the east.
The African Union and the UN have known as for a ceasefire and for the rebels to withdraw from areas they now management.
