Rwanda is closely monitoring the situation along its borders with DR Congo and says there will not be any hesitation to retaliate if the DR Congo deliberately violates Rwanda’s territorial integrity, Minister of State in charge of East African Community Affairs, Manasseh Nshuti told diplomats.
Nshuti made the remarks on October 26, as he briefed members of the diplomatic corps based in Kigali on current affairs and key events that took place during the past few months.
Rwanda has accused DR Congo of integrating the Genocidal forces FDLR into its army FARDC and empowered them to shell rockets into Rwanda from the DRC, an act that Rwanda has consistently complained about.
This year alone, FARDC and FDLR have on at least three occasions shelled bombs on the Rwandan territory. The incidents 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.
In his briefing to the diplomats, Nshuti said that the security situation in DR Congo had been relatively quiet "as we were waiting for the deployment of the East African Community (EAC) Joint Regional Force.
On October 20, DR Congo national army and its allies, including the FDLR, decided to attack M23 positions with long-range artillery similar to the ones used a few months ago to shell Rwandan territory. As we speak, fighting is ongoing in that part of DR Congo.”
However, Nshuti emphasised Rwanda’s position saying that it has been and remains to abide by decisions taken through various mechanisms and initiatives including the Nairobi Conclave, the Luanda process, and the Tripartite meeting with France that took place in September, in New York.
"We are closely monitoring the situation along our borders with DRC and we will not hesitate to retaliate if our territorial integrity is deliberately violated again by DRC,” he said.
He added that beside DR Congo, Rwanda’s relations with Uganda and Burundi are good and that the normalisation process of our diplomatic relations with both Kampala and Bujumbura is moving in the right direction.
As Nshuti briefed diplomats, Rwanda’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, Robert Kayinamura, was also speaking at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) meeting on the situation in the Great Lakes with representatives tasking the Kinshasa government to take action in ending it
He called out the UNSC to address the DR Congo issues from the roots rather than focusing on the consequences.
"Instead of addressing the leading root cause of insecurity in eastern DR Congo, the United Security Council preferred to manage this insecurity and focus on the consequences of the FDLR presence in eastern DRC," he said.
Kayinamura told the Council that addressing the root causes of conflict remains a crucial factor.