• M23 rebels have taken control much of North Kivu in the DRC.
• DRC, US, and European governments accuse Rwanda of aiding M23.
• The handover was described as a “sham” by UN Special Envoy Gerard Borrell.

The M23 rebel group, which has taken over large portions of the North Kivu region in the neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo, has received calls from the European Union urging it to cease helping Rwanda (DRC).

The DRC, the US, and a number of European nations have accused Rwanda, a smaller neighbor in Central Africa, of supporting the M23 on numerous occasions, though Kigali has always denied this.

The Tutsi rebel group has in recent months advanced to within a few dozen kilometers of North Kivu’s capital Goma.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Saturday said the European bloc had urged Rwanda to “stop supporting the M23 and use all means to press the M23 to comply with the decisions taken by the EAC [East African Community]” at a November summit in Angola.

“It also firmly urges all states of the region to prevent the provision of any support to armed groups active in the DRC,” said Borrell.

He called on Kinshasa to “take all measures necessary to protect the civilian population in its territory”.

M23 participated in a ceremony last week to hand over the important town of Kibumba to an East African military force as a “goodwill gesture” for peace despite being under intense international pressure to disband.

The EAC added that the group had to retreat to the DRC, Uganda, and Rwanda border. The Kibumba handover, however, was immediately derided as a “sham” by the Congolese army.

Borrell made his remarks after a UN report on the DRC stated that evidence of “direct intervention” by Rwandan defense personnel inside DRC territory between November 2021 and October 2022 had been gathered.

The Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), which is primarily composed of Hutu people, was the target of activities by Rwandan troops to strengthen the M23, according to the study. This included providing weapons, ammunition, and uniforms.

The FDLR is viewed as a danger by Kigali, and therefore justifies its activities inside the DRC.

Rwanda has also charged the DRC, which is scheduled to hold presidential elections in December, with manipulating the violence for political gain and “fabricating” a massacre in November that left at least 131 civilians dead.

M23 insurgents were given the guilt for the fatalities by a UN investigation.

Angola had been facilitating peace discussions to open the door for a truce deal before the killing.

Kinshasa expressed its appreciation for the UN investigators’ findings, which it claimed “put a stop to the lies and manipulations” of Rwanda, in a statement released on Saturday.

Given the seriousness of the accusations, it was demanded that the UN Security Council review the findings of the experts in order to consider possible penalties against Rwanda.

In his New Year’s message, Rwandan President Paul Kagame attributed the disorder in his country’s volatile eastern regions to Kinshasa.

“After spending tens of billions of dollars on peacekeeping over the past two decades, the security situation in Eastern Congo is worse than ever,” Kagame said in a statement on Saturday.

“To explain this failure, some in the international community blame Rwanda, even though they know very well that the true responsibility lies primarily with the government of the DRC. It is high time that the unwarranted vilification of Rwanda stopped.”

Also Read

DR Congo expels the ambassador of Rwanda

The DRC has ordered Rwandan Ambassador Vincent Karega to leave the nation...