Africa-Press – Rwanda. The Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Olivier Nduhungirehe, has condemned allegations by G7 foreign ministers that Rwanda supported the M23 rebels in eastern DR Congo, saying they ignored Rwanda’s security concerns.
Nduhungirehe said that a Saturday, March 15 joint statement by G7 foreign ministers in who met Canada, contained “recycled formulas,” that “minimize the support of DR Congo government to the FDLR genocidal militia and overlook the security concerns of Rwanda.”
The FDLR, which fights alongside the Congolese army against the M23 rebels, is a DR Congo-based terrorist militia founded by remnants of the masterminds of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.
In response to the statement, Nduhungirehe said the accusations forwarded from one Western capital to another, “condone the deployment of European mercenaries at our border, disregard the continued persecution of the Congolese Tutsi in eastern DR Congo.”
He added that the Western countries “pay lip service” to the Africa-led peace process for DR Congo.
“Rwanda, on her part, will continue supporting the ongoing EAC-SADC peace process for a lasting solution to the conflict in eastern DR Congo, without taking into consideration such politically and/or economically motivated statements from overseas.”
He added that Western statements on DR Congo crisis “are really tiresome.”
The M23 rebel group, which is part of the Alliance Fleuve Congo (AFC), took control of two major cities in eastern DR Congo in January and February, after more than three years of fighting.
The group fights for the protection of Congolese Tutsi communities, who have suffered ethnic violence for decades at the hands of Kinshasa-backed groups like the FDLR. It also fights against bad governance and corruption among other vices.
Angolan President João Lourenço, the mediator of the African Union-backed Luanda process for the DR Congo, emphasized the urgent need for Congolese authorities to engage in talks with the AFC/M23 rebels.
Direct talks between the Congolese government and the AFC/M23 rebels are scheduled to begin on in the Angolan capital Luanda on March 18.
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