According to a leaked report by a group of independent United Nations experts, Rwanda's army "engaged in military operations" against DRC's military in the country's troubled east.

The report leaked on December 22 claims that there is "substantial evidence” pinning the Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) on directly intervening in the DRC’s fight against the M23 rebels. The report alleges that Rwanda provided troop reinforcements to the M23, and that it supported the rebel group with weapons, ammunition and uniforms, among others.

 

The M23, or "March 23 Movement," is a Congolese rebel group that was defeated in 2013 and fled to Rwanda and Uganda. The group resumed activities again in late 2021 and now occupies swathes of territory in the east of DRC.

 

According to the leaked UN report, the experts having seen M23 leaders and combatants in June wearing new uniforms, Kevlar helmets and bulletproof vests, and carrying military equipment which was not part of their traditional arsenal was proof that Rwanda was supporting the rebel group.

“This shows that either the M23 had recently acquired this materiel notably after the crisis of 2012-2013, or recovered equipment belonged to a regular army supporting the M23,” reads part of the report.

 

 But how credible are these so-called  ‘facts’ or evidence as presented in the report?

 

Rwanda does not have any military equipment’s industry; all of the country’s arms and ammunitions are imported and can be easily found on the international market. The M23 has the liberty and ability to acquire such military equipment the same way any other armed group does. Don’t forget the fact that the rebels have overrun Congolese army positions and grabbed lots of arms in the past few months. In mid 2022, when M23 rebels captured Rumangabo, a major national army camp in Rutshuru territory, they found hundreds of weapons abandoned by the Congolese army, FARDC, when it fled. The captured arms and military equipment were brand new and of the latest versions.

 

The DRC government arms most rebel groups itself, as documented by the same UN GoE in previous reports as well as other reports by human rights organizations, when supporting the weak or dysfunctional national army. Kinshasa often acquires weapons, supplies its incapable army. The latter, in return, abandons the weapons during battles with the numerous armed groups in the country.

 

The report further advanced baseless allegations of cross-border supply of artillery, weapons, and ammunitions, in areas bordering Rwanda. Fact is; the M23 rebels control the Bunagana area which is on the border with Uganda, not Rwanda. One wonders, therefore, how Rwanda would supply the rebels  with weapons through Bunagana. How would these weapons pass, unnoticed, through the DRC-Uganda border?  There are several unanswered questions that raise eyebrows on the credibility of the UN GoE report.

 

As per the report, according to eyewitnesses, captured M23 combatants, FARDC sources, civil society actors local authorities, interviewed by the group of experts in the areas of Kibumba, Rumangabo, Rugari, Ntamugenga, Kiwanja, in Nyiragongo and Rutshuru Territories, reported the presence of RDF troops, marching in columns from the Rwandan border entering the DRC.

 

“The soldiers (RDF) wore standard military uniforms and equipment,” noted the experts, adding that at least five Rwandan soldiers have been arrested on Congolese territory.

 

The fact overlooked by the UN experts, however, is that close to three decades now, the territories mentioned above; especially in Nyiragongo and Rutshuru have been occupied by the FDLR, a Rwandan genocidal terror group formed by remnants of the perpetrators of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, which is openly  collaborating with the Congolese  army, FARDC.

 

In these areas, anti-Rwanda government rhetoric and propaganda is widely spread by the FDLR-FARDC coalition. The UN ‘experts’ took all the lies fed to them without bothering to fact check sources and gather tangible facts. This is not only unprofessional but recklessness.    

 

Meanwhile, among the five ‘arrested’ Rwandan soldiers mentioned in the report, only two who were kidnapped on May 23 while on patrol along the border between the two countries, were returned. Up to now, Kinshasa has failed to show any tangible evidence of the capture of three others, as required by diplomatic and military protocol.

 

This begs the question; what evidence does the UN Group of Experts have to back their wild claims?

 

The policy of blaming Rwanda so as to deflect blame and evade accountability for persistent governance failure in the DRC comes at a huge cost to citizens on both sides of the border.

 

Rwanda does not support M23 rebels and it has come out, repeatedly, to state so, as well as highlight its main concern – the threat of a genocide ideology being spread by FDLR.

 

The UN Group of Experts’ report is full of curated lies and inaccuracies intent on shading or advancing a moral equivalence that actually does not exist. The report is, in part, flawed because it distorts issues.

 

The M23 rebellion is an internal political crisis and Congolese authorities must carry their own cross rather than blaming their neighbor, Rwanda, which is hosting thousands of peace-loving Congolese refugees. The latter’s only wish is for their homeland to be purged of the genocidal forces so that they can return home and live in peace.

 

It is high time that Kinshasa owns up; and admits that the M23 is an internal crisis, which needs to be dealt with internally by addressing the rebellion’s grievances.