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UNITED NATIONS (AP) – The United States told Rwanda and Congo on Tuesday that they “must walk back from the brink of war,” the sharpest warning yet of impending conflict between the African neighbors.
U.S. Deputy Ambassador Robert Wood issued the warning at an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council convened by France due to escalating violence in the United States. Eastern Congo is rich in minerals It borders Rwanda.
Mr Wood said Rwanda and Congo should immediately resume diplomatic talks with “regional stakeholders”. “These regional diplomatic efforts, not military conflict, are the only path to a negotiated solution and sustainable peace,” he stressed.
Here are the US warnings: Refusal of the Rwandan Ministry of Foreign Affairs The United States on Monday called for the withdrawal of troops and surface-to-air missile systems from eastern Congo.
of The US State Department on Saturday He also criticized the escalation in violence by the “Rwandan-backed” armed group M23.
A statement from the Rwanda ministry said the country’s military was defending Rwandan territory as Congo carried out a “dramatic military buildup” near its border.
The ministry said the threat to Rwanda’s national security stems from the presence of armed groups in Congo, whose members include the alleged perpetrators of the incident. 1994 genocide More than 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus who tried to protect them were killed.
The rebel group, known by its initials FDLR, is “fully integrated” into the Congolese army, the statement said. Although Rwanda has long pointed out the threat posed by the FLDR, Rwandan authorities have never acknowledged the presence of military in eastern Congo.
Congolese authorities have accused the central African country of actively supporting M23.
Congo’s Ambassador to the United Nations Zenon Ngai Mukongo called on the Security Council for Rwanda to withdraw its troops from the country without preconditions and to end all support to M23.
He accused the Rwandan military of illegally occupying parts of the eastern province of North Kivu and supporting the M23 to destabilize Congo and “plunder our wealth, our ore and mineral wealth” in the east. .
Mukongo told the council that there had been no recorded attack by the FDLR against Rwanda from Congolese territory in more than 20 years. Regarding the horrors of genocide in Rwanda, he said such a thing would never happen in Congo, where the Tutsi minority holds power over the Hutu majority and is home to hundreds of tribes. I’m living,” he said.
He emphasized that Congo’s Tutsis are Congolese and that “the Congolese Tutsi problem will be resolved in Congo by Congolese people.”
“So stay home!” Mukongo said as Rwanda’s U.N. Ambassador Ernesto Rwamcho sat across from him at a horseshoe-shaped table in the Security Council.
Rwamcho said the integration of the “genocidal FDLR” into the Congolese army is government policy and a matter of great concern to the country.
He said the alliance continues to target innocent Kinyarwanda-speaking Tutsis with violence, hate speech and murder.
“As a result, the region is on the brink of a very serious catastrophe,” he said, warning of the possibility of another massacre.
Rwamcho said the recent escalation of conflict in eastern Congo is occurring in the context of calls for regime change in Rwanda by the presidents of Congo and Burundi.
Ending the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s support to the FDLR and ensuring the armed group’s demobilization and return to Rwanda is a “non-negotiable requirement” to resolve the region’s complex security challenges. he said.
Fighting has intensified in recent days near Goma, the region’s largest city, as the M23 rebel group threatens to take over the city. Residents of the nearby town of Sake are fleeing heavy fighting between Congolese government forces and the group.
French Ambassador to the United Nations Nicolas de Rivière condemned the recent M23 attack on Salmon and Rwanda’s support of the M23 and its presence in the territory of Siongorese. “This has to end,” he said, stressing that a “threshold has been crossed” with the deployment of anti-aircraft systems in Congo.
U.S. Deputy Ambassador Wood called on the international community to take immediate steps to stop fighting and reduce tensions between Congo and Rwanda.
Millions of people are facing a serious humanitarian crisis, and the scale of displacement, human rights violations and gender-based violence is “alarming”, he said.
Eastern Congo already had one of them The world’s worst humanitarian crisisAccording to the United Nations Refugee Agency, nearly 6 million people have been forced to flee due to conflict. There are concerns that new disasters may go largely unnoticed as they garner more attention. war in gaza and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Mr. Wood responded to U.S. demands for M23 to immediately cease attacks and withdraw from the area, and for Rwanda to cease supporting armed groups and immediately withdraw its troops and missile systems from Congo. I was in tune.
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