Rwanda and Congo in war of words over ‘vigilance groups’
Top officials in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo have traded accusations on the BBC’s flagship radio programme for Africa following a Congolese call to arms against its neighbour.
“President Tshisekedi called youth to join the army because the country is under threat – we are experiencing a new aggression from Rwanda,” said DR Congo government spokesman and media minister Patrick Muyaya.
But the president’s push for so-called vigilance groups is “cheap populism”, “dangerous” and little more than an irresponsible “election tactic”, according to Rwanda’s government spokeswoman Yolande Makolo.
She also dismissed DR Congo’s accusations that Rwanda is supporting the M23 rebel group, alleging that “most of the groups in the DRC [were] actually started and sponsored by Congolese politicians” and saying that DR Congo should not try to blame other nations when it has “failed to bring security to its [own] citizens”.
Congolese spokesman Mr Makolo however accused Rwanda of wanting to “keep this part of DRC unstable so they can continue the looting of our mineral resources as they have been doing for the past 25 years”.
He also said Rwanda had not shown good faith in respecting negotiations intended to end the diplomatic crisis.
By BBC
