Rwandan soldiers deny attacking Congolese border guards

The Congolese army claims it repulsed an attack on Thursday by Kigali soldiers who crossed into the eastern province of North Kivu.

The Rwandan government has denied claims that its defence soldiers infiltrated into the Democratic Republic of the Congo and attacked border police forces on Thursday.

The Rwandan Defence Ministry announced in a press statement on Friday that the Congolese Armed Forces (FARDC) “falsely accused” the Rwandan army of “carrying out an incursion into North Kivu.”

Since the return of the M23 rebel group to eastern DRC, relations between Congo and Rwanda have been strained. Kinshasa accuses Kigali of backing the militia, which Kigali has consistently denied.

According to the FARDC, Rwandan troops attacked the Congolese border town of North Kivu early Thursday “to deliver reinforcements and continue to destabilise and intentionally violate” the country’s “territoriality integrity.”

According to the FARDC, Kigali soldiers attempted to push Congolese villagers off their land and attacked border guards who were dispatched to the location to help.

“The ensuing clashes enabled the FARDC to repel the Rwandan terrorists who had committed this intolerable provocation, and who withdrew to their country,” it said.

However, Rwanda’s defence forces (RDF) dismissed the claims on Friday as “baseless and part of a long-standing pattern of misinformation and propaganda by the DRC leadership.”

According to Kigali, this is an attempt to “divert attention away from their internal failures in maintaining peace and security within their own borders while continuing to support, arm, and fight alongside the genocidal militia [Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda] FDLR.”

The RDF expressed alarm about the pattern of “false accusations” and escalating tensions, suggesting that it could be used as justification for the FARDC and FDLR’s “planned attack” against Rwandans.

Kigali stated earlier this year that a dozen Congolese soldiers entered into the neutral zone near Rusizi, a tiny hamlet bordering the DRC, and opened fire on a Rwandan border post in a “act of provocation.”

Last August, a delegation of UN specialists claimed to have “solid evidence” that Rwandan military supplied ammunition to the M23 rebels and fought with them against DRC soldiers.

Human Rights Watch also claimed last month that “Rwanda-backed” fighters killed and raped residents in North Kivu, causing infrastructural damage and increasing the region’s humanitarian situation.