Rwanda is backing rebels fighting Congo: UN report

Bloomberg

Rwanda is equipping and fighting alongside a rebel group in Democratic Republic of Congo, a report by a United Nations group of experts on Congo showed.
The panel presented evidence based on eyewitness testimony and drone footage that the Rwanda Defence Force has supported the M23 rebel group since November, according to the report sent to the UN Security Council this week, a copy of which was seen by Bloomberg. The soldiers attacked rebel groups based in Congo who oppose the Rwandan government, and fought against the Congolese army, known as the FARDC, to expand M23 territory, the group said.
Congo’s government spokesman Patrick Muyaya said on Twitter that the government “rejoiced at the conclusions of the work of the group of experts,” which it hoped would “put an end to Rwandan interference.”
Rwanda’s government said the M23 is “well-known as a problem of the DRC, which they seek to make a burden of other countries,” according to a statement published on its website. “Rwanda has disarmed and cantoned M23 fighters far from the DRC border. Others scattered in the region, who are in conflict with their government, are not Rwanda’s responsibility.”
The M23’s leadership is largely made up of members of Congo’s Tutsi community, who say they are defending the interests of Rwandan-language speakers in the country and fighting Hutu rebel groups accused of bearing responsibility for the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. More than 800,000 people, most of them Tutsi, were killed during the mayhem.
The RDF has launched multiple attacks on Congolese territory against the Hutu groups, according to the UN experts’ report. Rwanda accused Congo of working closely with one of the Hutu-led groups, known as the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, or FDLR, according to its statement. It also said recent Congolese attacks and shelling into Rwandan territory killed its citizens and destroyed property.