Den berygtede milits, M23, der har spredt død og ødelæggelse og drevet hundredtusinder på flugt i DR Congo, nyder godt af våben og anden støtte fra det lille naboland – ses som en udløber af folkedrabet i Rwanda i 1994, der kostede ca. en million livet.
Rwanda’s defence minister is effectively commanding a rebellion in neighbouring DR Congo, UN experts say according to BBC online Wednesday.
A confidential report says that Uganda is also backing the M23 rebels, who have been fighting the congolese army since April and are named after a failed peace agreement signed on 23 March three years ago
Rwanda and Uganda strenuously deny supporting the rebellion.
But during the past two decades Rwanda has backed armed groups in the east of DR Congo as a way to fight Hutu rebels who fled there after the genocide (folkedrab) of the 1990s.
Some accuse Rwanda of using militias as proxies (stedfortrædere) in an on-going battle for the region, which is rich in minerals.
The latest report by the UN Security Council’s Group of Experts says that M23 leaders “receive direct military orders” from Rwanda’s chief of defence staff, Gen Charles Kayonga, “who in turn acts on instructions from the minister of defence”, Gen James Kabarebe.
It also says Rwanda has supplied the M23 with heavy weapons and stepped up recruitment for the group.
The 44-page report says army units from Rwanda and Uganda have helped M23 expand its control of territory in eastern DR Congo, where half a million people have fled the fighting between troops and rebels.
The M23 leader, former Congolese General Bosco Ntaganda, is known as “the Terminator” and he is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged war crimes. He has fought for various militias over the years.
