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Conflict in DR Congo: Congolese military personnel walk past an arms cache used by the M23 rebels
Photo:
Kenny Katombe / REUTERS
The relationship between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is already tense, and a United Nations document is likely to exacerbate the current tensions again.
According to UN experts, the Rwandan army intervened directly in the fighting in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
In addition, Rwanda has supplied weapons and ammunition to the M23 rebel group, according to a report by UN experts available to the AFP news agency on Thursday but not yet officially published.
According to the UN experts' report, there is "substantial evidence" of "direct intervention by Rwandan forces on the territory of the Democratic Republic of the Congo" - at least between November 2021 and October 2022. A government spokesman in Kigali promptly denied that Rwanda used the M23 rebels supported.
He did not want to comment on the specific content of the report as long as it was not officially published.
The majority of the M23 rebels are Congolese Tutsi.
After years of silence, they took up arms again at the end of last year.
In October of that year, they intensified their offensive against government troops and took control of large areas.
In addition to the government in Kinshasa, Western countries such as the USA and France also accuse the government of Rwanda of supporting the rebels in the neighboring country.
Tensions between Rwanda and the DRC are currently at their highest level in years.
asc/AFP
