The president of Rwanda has stated that he had a “nice chat” about de-escalating the situation in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo with the UN secretary-general. DR Congo’s army and the M23 rebels, who over the weekend took control of two more towns, have been engaged in conflict in the area for months.
The DR Congo government decided to withdraw Rwanda’s ambassador to Kinshasa as a result of the circumstance, a move that Rwanda observed: “with sadness.”
President Paul Kagame stated in a tweet on Monday that we already have the “tools and means to de-escalate and handle the issues to a peaceful end… We just have to commit ourselves to use them.”
Few hours ago I had good discussion with the UNSG on the conflict in E.DRC. The ways and means to de-escalate…& address the issues to a peaceful end are with us building on the Nairobi,Luanda & other international efforts! We just have to commit ourselves to applying them!!!
— Paul Kagame (@PaulKagame) October 30, 2022
The African Union has called for an immediate end to the fighting and expressed its “grave worry” about the deteriorating security situation.
Rwanda has consistently refuted accusations from Kinshasa that it supports M23. Various attempts to cease the bloodshed and end the decades-long conflict by the presidents of Angola and the East African Community, to which both nations belong, have failed.
