Rwanda on Thursday accused the Democratic Republic of Congo of abandoning a deal aimed at bringing peace to troubled eastern DRC that has reignited tensions between the two neighboring countries.
Kigali accused the DRC of seeking to
"exit"
the peace processes initiated in Luanda as well as in Nairobi.
"The DRC's attempts to sabotage or abandon these regional agreements can only be seen as a choice aimed at perpetuating conflict and insecurity
," the Rwandan authorities said in a statement.
"Safeguard territorial integrity"
The day before, the Congolese Minister of Foreign Affairs Christophe Lutundula had deplored on Wednesday that the rebels of the M23
"and the Rwandan authorities who support them"
did not,
"once again, respect their commitments".
The Congolese government affirms its determination to
"safeguard the territorial integrity" of the DRC which "will defend itself by all means"
, he added.
Despite announcements of a ceasefire and the withdrawal of troops, fighting persists in eastern DRC between the Congolese army and the rebels of the M23 group (for "Movement of March 23").
A summit meeting on November 23 in Luanda had however decided on a ceasefire from November 25, followed two days later by the withdrawal of the M23 from the areas conquered for several months in the province of North Kivu.
The DRC accuses Rwanda of supporting this mainly Tutsi rebellion which took up arms again at the end of 2021 and of fighting alongside it, which Kigali denies.
Kigali, for its part, accuses the Congolese army of collusion with a Rwandan Hutu rebellion established in eastern DRC since the 1994 Tutsi genocide in Rwanda.
Read alsoRwanda accuses the international community of “exacerbating” the crisis in eastern DRC
In an attempt to ease tensions in the east of the DRC, plagued for almost 30 years by violence from armed groups, several diplomatic initiatives have been launched, in particular by the Community of East African States (EAC ).
The latter decided to deploy a regional force and launched a new session of peace talks in Nairobi on November 28, without the M23, which Kinshasa describes as a
“terrorist”
movement .
Another mediation is conducted on behalf of the African Union by Angolan President Joao Lourenço, responsible for trying to reconcile Kinshasa and Kigali.
