(Goma) Missile launchers, training camps, “3,000 to 4,000 soldiers” deployed, children forcibly recruited, “systematic shootings on urban areas”: UN experts describe in a new report the “territorial conquest” of the Rwandan army in the east of the DRC, alongside the M23 rebels.
These researchers, mandated by the UN Security Council, estimate in this biannual report, consulted on Monday by AFP, that Rwandan officers have “de facto” taken “control and direction of the M23 operations”.
The M23 (“March 23 Movement”) is a Congolese armed rebellion that claims to defend the Tutsis in the Democratic Republic of Congo and which, allied with officials from the former ruling party in Kinshasa, has declared its intention to march on the capital.
The experts accuse the Rwandan authorities of having “violated the integrity and sovereignty of the DRC” and consider them “responsible for the actions of the M23” through the support they provide for their “territorial conquest”.
Since late 2021, the M23 and troops from the Rwandan army have been advancing in the province of North Kivu, where they have routed the Congolese army and its allies and installed a parallel administration in the areas under their control.
Asked for a reaction by AFP on Monday, Rwandan government spokeswoman Yolande Makolo accused the DRC of constantly threatening “to declare war on Rwanda.” “Rwanda will continue to defend itself,” she said.
Until the end of 2023, the Rwandan authorities publicly denied having deployed their army alongside the M23 rebels, something that Kigali has not contested since the beginning of the year.
Rwandan President Paul Kagame declared on June 20 on the France 24 television channel that he was “ready to fight” against the DRC if necessary, while avoiding the question of the current presence of the RDF (Rwanda Defense Force, the name of the Rwandan army) in the DRC.
For several months, the United States, France, Belgium and the European Union have been asking Rwanda to withdraw its troops and surface-to-air missiles from the DRC and to cease its support for the M23, requests which have so far had no effect.
PHOTO YASSIN KOMBI, REUTERS ARCHIVES
A group of Congolese soldiers accused of fleeing fighting against M23 rebels attend their trial in Lubero, Democratic Republic of Congo on July 5.
Minors forcibly recruited
Experts detail the “systematic incursions” of Rwandan soldiers on Congolese soil, a thousand of whom are said to have arrived in the DRC during the month of January 2024 alone.
They estimate that at the time of writing their report (April 2024), Rwandan troops “matched or even outnumbered M23 fighters”, estimated at some 3,000 men.
This report presents numerous aerial photographs taken in areas under the control of the M23 and the Rwandan army. They show columns of armed men in uniform, some carrying or operating artillery pieces and large-calibre weapons, armoured vehicles with radar and anti-aircraft missile systems, and troop transport trucks.
Children, “from the age of 12”, were recruited “in almost all the refugee camps in Rwanda” (80,000 Congolese are refugees in Rwanda, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees) to be sent to training camps in rebel zones, under the supervision of Rwandan soldiers and M23 men, the report also indicates.
He said that “recruits aged 15 and over were trained for combat and sent to the front lines.” He added that the recruitment of minors in Rwanda was generally carried out by intelligence agents, “through false promises of money or employment,” and that “those who opposed this were taken away by force.”
PHOTO ALEXIS HUGUET, ARCHIVES AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Civilians flee fighting around Birundule, located on the frontline in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
Ugandan support
The experts also establish that during their offensives, the M23 and the RDF “specifically targeted localities predominantly inhabited by Hutus, in areas known to be strongholds of the FDLR”, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, a Rwandan rebel group formed by former senior Hutu leaders of the genocide of the Tutsis in Rwanda in 1994, and who have since taken refuge in Congo.
The presence of this group in the east of the DRC is presented by Kigali as a permanent threat at the gates of Rwanda.
The international community, in demanding an end to Rwandan support for the M23 and to all foreign intervention in eastern Congo, is at the same time asking Kinshasa to distance itself from the FDLR.
But in their report, the UN experts say they note “the continued use by the DRC of armed groups, including the FDLR” in its fight against the M23. These armed groups supporting the Congolese army are grouped under the name “wazalendo” (“patriots”).
Experts also say they have had confirmation of “active support” for the M23 from members of the intelligence services of Uganda, a neighboring country accused by Kinshasa of playing a shady game in the region, despite the collaboration of the Congolese and Ugandan armies against another rebel group, affiliated with the jihadist organization Islamic State, in the far north of North Kivu.