Britain will release half of the aid that it deferred to Rwanda following allegations that the country was supporting rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo.Andrew Mitchell, the UK’s outgoing international development minister, announced yesterday that the decision was made after his government acknowledged that is “constructively” engaging in efforts to resolve the crisis that has displaced 220,000 people since April.Rwanda has supported the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) - led efforts to find a lasting solution to the violence in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, in the wake of the conflict between government army and the newly formed M23 rebels.He added: “Given this progress and recognising that the government of Rwanda has continued to demonstrate its strong commitment to reducing poverty and improving its financial management, Britain will partially restore its general budget support to Rwanda,” Mitchell said in a statement.The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, Kampeta Sayinzoga confirmed the move, saying the decision was out of Rwanda government dialogue with the donors.“We have taken note of this decision which has been communicated officially to our government. We have been in continuous open dialogue with the UK and the decision has been based on this engagement,”Sayinzoga told The New Times yesterday.Mitchell said the decision means UK will release around $12 million (7.5 million pounds) of the $25 million in deferred aid.Britain and other development partners, including the United States, Sweden and the Netherlands, suspended support to Rwanda after a controversial United Nations Group of Experts report, accused Kigali of backing rebels fighting in the east of Democratic Republic of Congo.The credibility of the report came to question after the evidence it contained turned out to be fabricated and some of the experts turned out to have publically expressed bias against the leadership of the Rwanda.Rwanda has also issued a detailed rebuttal to the allegations.The Foreign Affairs minister Louise Mushikiwabo was at the UN Headquarters in New York, last week to brief the UN Security Council on the regional peace plan, especially ICGLR-led efforts to pacify eastern DRC.The Security Council members also welcomed the ongoing process within the ICGLR. The next ICGLR (Heads of State) summit is scheduled for September 7-8.Rwanda government spending in this 2012-2013 financial year was set to rise by Rwf184.4 billion to over Rwf1.3 trillion of which local revenues is expected to contribute Rwf745 billion up from Rwf611billion of 2011-2012.There has been a lull in fighting in the troubled region in past few weeks and the ICGLR has proposed an international “neutral force” to be dispatched to the region.
