Rwanda is ready to contribute to the East African Regional Force that will be deployed in the Democratic Republic of Congo to defuse tensions caused by several armed groups especially in the eastern part of the country, the government has announced.

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta issued a statement on June 15, in his capacity as the Chairperson of the East African Community, announcing and activating the East African Regional Force under the auspices of the EAC to intervene in the ongoing conflict in DR Congo.

The Process of deploying the force is expected to be finalised on Sunday June 19, during a meeting of regional Commanders in Nairobi, Kenya.

While addressing the media on June 17, the State Minister in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Prof Nshuti Manasseh revealed that establishing the force is part of the agreement that was reached in Nairobi recently and the process to set up the force is underway.

"Rwanda as a member of EAC will definitely contribute to the forces because security matters (in the DRC) are a concern to us just like they are a concern to each of the DRC neighbours. We definitely have hope that this force will restore peace in the eastern DRC,” he said.

In activating the EAC regional force, President Uhuru announced that the force will work with local provincial authorities to support an orderly and permanent disarmament process under the Programme de Desarmement, Demobilisation, Relevement Communautaire et Stabilisation (P-DDRCS) in order to create enabling conditions towards stability and peace in the eastern DRC

Meanwhile, following the recent resurgence of fighting between M23 rebels and the Congolese military together with its allies including FDLR terrorists, Congolese authorities have maintained that the M23 rebel group gets support from Rwanda, a claim the latter has vehemently denied.

The group – which was started by mainly former members of the DR Congo military – has also denied any links or getting support from Rwanda.

DR Congo announced that they are suspending all trade pacts with Rwanda effective June 16. This came three weeks after DR Congo also suspended Rwandair flights to the country.

Also FARDC and FDLR have on at least three occasions shelled bombs on the Rwandan territory in less than four months. The recent two incidents that happened on May 23 and June 10 followed a similar incident that happened in March.

They all targeted civilians in the areas of Musanze and Burera districts and left several injured and property damaged.

Reacting to the developments, Prof Nshuti said that, "Whenever there is an issue, people meet, talk about it and iron out those issues. Rwanda and DRC will meet and talk about all these issues. A war is not a solution; solutions are derived from dialogues. Weapons only cause more problems.”

Guarantees

Following DR Congo’s shelling on the Rwandan territory on June 14, Rwanda Defense Force (RDF) issued a statement indicating that ‘…the RDF will continue to seek guarantees that cross-border attacks on Rwanda's territory are stopped’

When asked about what those guarantees are, Prof Nshuti said that there are three types of guarantees. He went on to detail each of them. 

"As a country we have several guarantees that we give Rwandans and they come in different forms including security guarantees like boosting our security at the borders which we have done. When it comes to security, we don’t take chances, we are as good as we can be. Security guarantees are in place and Rwandans can carry on with their businesses because their security is a responsibility of the government,” he said.

The second guarantee according to Prof Nshuti is the "political guarantees which is about dialogues, talking about the problems. More often, the problem is not understood or defined the way it is and this is when it becomes a bigger problem or if you have different understanding then it becomes a bigger problem.”

He added that, "There are measures in place to address the problem so that everybody is on the same page. We already have the Nairobi process in which we have been discussing this DRC problem so that everybody understands the problem rather than anybody coming up with a problem that in fact is not the problem.

There is an underlying problem that we all know which has been in the Eastern DR Congo for long and these upcoming meetings of heads of state are supposed to sit down and define the problem of DR Congo and resolutions will be made from these meetings. Talking is the only way to solve the problem, guns have never solved the problem,” he said.

Prof Nshuti said that the third guarantee is the "societal that involves our border communities whom we ask to stay calm and watch out for their security. Security is about all of and taking it in a way that we all understand that this is in our interest. When all these guarantees are put together, we should get a solution. I can assure you we will get a solution to this problem.”

Short DR Congo soldier

Meanwhile, an armed DR Congo soldier crossed the Rubavu border, opened fire and injured two Rwandan police officers at the border. The soldier was immediately shot to neutralize him before he could injure or kill more people. He died on the spot.

Reacting to the incident, Government spokesperson Yolande Makolo said that Rwanda is taking is as an incident and that it is being investigated by the Expanded Joint Verification Mechanism

"Our foreign affairs minister has already talked to his counterpart in the DRC and various authorities are also in contact with our DRC counterparts. We are waiting to see the outcome of the investigation, however Rwandans and our visitors are assured of their security, there is no security concern in Kigali or anywhere else in the country,” she said.