DRC expels Rwandan forces part of regional peace keeping contingents

The army of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) announced Tuesday the expulsion of Rwandan forces stationed in the city of Goma, in the eastern North Kivu province, as a result of tension between the two countries.

The army in a statement said that the Rwandan contingent, part of a regional forces made of Kenya, Burundi and South Sudan, has been flashed out owing to security reason.

Rwanda and DRC have been embroiled in a diplomatic tension with Kinshasa accusing Kigali for backing rebel groups causing havoc in the east of the country, while the regime of Paul Kagame has been charging the Congolese government for supporting rebel groups.

Kinshasa has been fighting in eastern North Kivu province rebels including M23 that Congolese government and major international powers believe are supported by President Kagame’s regime.

Tensions between the two counties further escalated off-late. The Rwandan army last week took down a Democratic Republic of Congo fighter jet accused of violating its airspace on three occasions.

Monday, the Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi urged the UN Security Council to slap individual and collective sanctions on Rwandan authorities, M23 leaders and the Rwandan state.

“I reiterate the request of the Congolese government, made last September to the UN Security Council, to examine the report of the UN experts on the security situation in the east, which has already been handed out to the member states, and to impose individual and collective sanctions on the Rwandan authorities, on the M23 terrorists, and on the Rwandan state, which is flouting international law and committing crimes as well as serious human rights violations in North Kivu”, Tshisekedi said. Kigali has always denied any wrongdoing.