Uganda is backing M23 rebels combating throughout its border in jap Democratic Republic of Congo, UN specialists say, warning {that a} quickly escalating disaster “carried the danger of triggering a wider regional battle”.
The well-armed M23 is usually accused of being a Rwandan proxy power, however the UN specialists have put ahead proof to counsel that it additionally has Uganda’s assist.
Uganda has denied the allegations within the UN report that additionally accuses Rwanda of getting as much as 4,000 troops in DR Congo combating alongside the rebels.
In response, Rwanda didn’t deny the allegation and instructed the BBC the DR Congo authorities lacked the political will to resolve the disaster in its mineral-rich east, which has witnessed many years of unrest.
The UN specialists mentioned that Rwandan troops have been “matching if not surpassing” the variety of M23 fighters, regarded as at round 3,000 in mid-April, on Congolese soil.
Rwanda has lengthy been angered by the presence of ethnic Hutu rebels, generally known as the FDLR, in jap DR Congo – joint operations previously have did not get rid of them.
The group’s leaders are accused of collaborating within the 1994 Rwandan genocide, during which 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and reasonable Hutus have been killed.
The Tutsi-led M23 first emerged with nice ferocity in 2012, solely to be defeated the next 12 months with the assistance of a multinational power when most of its fighters fled to camps in Rwanda and Uganda.
They started to rearm three years in the past and the group now controls swathes of territory within the North Kivu province, the place the UN report says M23 has put in a parallel administration.
Three million individuals are estimated to have fled their properties due to the combating.
The UN specialists’ 293-page report, which covers occasions up till mid-April, has simply been revealed – however it was first handed to the UN Safety Council Sanctions Committee after which despatched to the UN Safety Council final month.
Their report additionally warned that Burundi’s army had been concerned in operations with the Congolese military in opposition to the M23 and Rwandan troopers, exacerbating regional tensions.
DR Congo’s International Minister Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner mentioned she was involved by the allegations of collusion between the Uganda military, M23 and Rwandan army.
She mentioned the difficulty can be taken up with Uganda with whom DR Congo has been concerned in a joint offensive in opposition to one other insurgent group, the Islamic State-linked Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), which assaults each nations.
However the UN report mentioned it was seemingly that Uganda was permitting M23 provides and new recruits by way of its territory.
“Because the resurgence of the M23 disaster, Uganda has not prevented the presence of M23 and Rwanda Defence Drive (RDF) troops on its territory or passage by way of it,” it mentioned.
Ugandan army intelligence officers had additionally been within the Congolese city of Bunagana since at the least late 2023 “to co-ordinate with M23 leaders, present logistics and transport M23 leaders to M23-controlled space”.
The report additionally famous that M23 leaders, together with its army chief Sultani Makenga – who’s topic to a UN sanctions journey ban – had travelled to Uganda for conferences.
Uganda deputy army spokesman, Deo Akiiki, instructed the Reuters information company the allegations within the report have been false: “It might be mad for us to destabilise the identical space we’re sacrificing all of it to have it secure.”
However the report additional particulars Uganda’s alleged assist for the Alliance Fleuve Congo (AFC) – a newly created motion regarded by some analysts because the political arm of the M23.
It’s led by DR Congo’s former electoral chief and says it needs to deliver peace to the east, however in keeping with sources quoted within the UN report, it has been seen as a possibility to legitimise the M23 “whereas diminishing the function of Rwanda within the disaster”.
A joint AFC-M23 assertion in response to a leaked model of the report mentioned the UN specialists had distorted the state of affairs which could “hinder the creation of lasting peace”.
It additionally gave detailed accounts of different issues it felt have been incorrect, like an alleged M23 assault at Goma airport and the M23’s alleged pressured recruitment and use of kid troopers, which Rwanda denies too.
The AFC-M23 additionally denied Rwanda’s involvement within the battle, saying the “obsession with establishing a connection between M23 and Rwanda participates in fuelling the hate ideology which is the basis explanation for the violence” in jap DR Congo.
The UN report mentioned by early April 2024, the M23 and Rwanda army’s space of affect was the most important ever recorded – representing a 70% enhance since November.
It mentioned that the deployment of superior army know-how and gear bolstered joint M23-Rwandan army operations, “altering battle dynamics” together with by grounding all Congolese army “air property”.
The report included photographs and screengrabs giving particulars of the weapons and drones used – allegedly supplied to the M23 regardless of an arms embargo.
Rwanda’s authorities spokesperson Yolande Makolo accused Congolese President Félix Tshisikedi of sabre-rattling.
“He has additionally constantly threatened to declare warfare on Rwanda,” she instructed the BBC, accusing the Congolese military of financing and combating alongside the FDLR.
She mentioned DR Congo had all the facility to de-escalate the state of affairs if it wished to “however till then Rwanda will proceed to defend itself”.
A regional power from the Southern African Improvement Group (Sadc) was deployed on the finish of final 12 months to assist DR Congo’s army cope with conflicts within the east.
Further reporting by the BBC’s Gladys Kigo.
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