Evidence that shows that Rwanda supports M23 rebels

Protesters in Kinshasi, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, burned the portraits of President Rwanda and demolished the flags of Rwanda, because the M23 rebels took control of the majority of the eastern town of Gom.

Their anger focused on President Rwanda Paul Kagama, who is accused of supporting the rebel – a charged with a long -term UN.

In order to say, a group of UN experts holds a Rwanda army in “De Facto Control over M23 Operations”, describing how recruits M23 are trained under the supervision of Rwanda, and are supported by high-tech weapons.

Goma, which lies at the foot of the volcano near Lake Kivo, sits on the border with Rwand. It is the capital of the N

The city also became a refuge for those who fled from the conflict between the M23 fighters and the army, which broke out at the end of 2021 – with the population plugged at about two million.

Everyone is facing further unrest while fighting with loud explosions that echoed the streets, which are now covered with bodies, broke out on Sunday night. The exact circumstances of what happens is not clear because the telephone lines are down, and electricity and water supply are interrupted. But M23 seems to have caught the majority, if not all, the city.

“There was no doubt that there were troops of Rwanda in Gomi supporting the M23,” UN head for Peierre Lacroix Peerreix said, although it was difficult to say accurate numbers on the ground in the crowd.

Significantly, some soldiers of the Congol army in Gomi who surrendered on Monday, did so by crossing the border in Rwanda.

Ever since the conflict began, President Kagama has repeatedly denied any involvement in the support of the M23 rebels, which are well equipped, well -armed and well dressed.

However, this response has noticed noticeably as the accusations are still growing with “irresistible evidence” showing the support of Rwanda for the rebel group, said Richard Moncrief, director of the International Crisis Project for the Great Lakes

“The tone has changed to justify defense measures,” he told the BBC. “It became harder to deny the support of Rwanda for M23.”

On Sunday, the Rwande Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement: “This struggle close to Rwanda’s border is still a serious threat of safety and territorial integrity of Rwanda and requires a lasting defense posture of Rwanda.”

It was said to be concerned with the “wrong or manipulative” statements that lacked the context regarding the conflict.

For Kagama, the context comes down to a genocide in Rwanda, which took place more than 100 days in 1994.

Ethnic Hutu militia involved in killing up to 800,000 people – a vast majority from Tutsi community – has escaped in what Dr. Congo is now, and some have formed democratic forces to release Rwanda (FDLR).

This rebel group is still active in notoriously unstable Eastern DR Congo – and still includes some of those responsible for genocide.

Kagama, who headed the rebel Tutsi force that ended the murder more than three decades ago, see this “genocide militia” as an existential threat.

His government twice attacked Dr. Congo, saying that he wanted to prevent Hutu Rebel Group to set cross -border attacks.

Earlier this month, he invited his Congoleous colleague, Félix Tshiseeked, because he did not deal with FDLR and talked to the M23, saying that it aggravated the conflict.

Mr. Moncrief believes that the target of Goma is more about setting a political point because he says that the M23 does not need a city strategically because “he already controls many more lucrative areas.”

“This is the way of President Kagama to perform power over which he is in charge of northern Kiva,” said a large lake expert.

Rwanda accused the northern Kivu military governor, who was killed in the fight last week for cooperating with the FDLR.

Discovering this type of high -level collaboration, experts agree, would be like a red flag of a bull for Rwanda.

The origin of the M23 is related to these tensions – it is the latest embodiment of a rebel group that says that it fights for the interests of the Tutsi Minority Community in Eastern Dr. Kong.

His first uprising, more than a decade ago, ended with a peace agreement – when his fighters were disarmed and mostly moved to Kampovi in ​​Uganda.

But three years ago, they started leaving camps, saying that the contract had not been honored and seized the territory in a few months.

UN -A mission – first arranged in 1999. – It’s not a mandate to start offensive. Two regional forces – the East African person followed by the South African person – specially distributed in the last few years at the request of Tshiseacedija failed to contain M23.

This gives the indication of sophisticated operations M23.

According to the UN expert group, this includes five months of training at M23 main base in Tchazu, hilly terrain not far from the Rwande border, which includes courses on theory and ideology, and then practical elements, including “war tactics”, “Rules of the engagement “” and ‘bush tactics’.

It was said that Rwanda officers were often at the camp, where recruits were brought, including children – some who volunteered, others were forced to provide recruiters in a systematic operation in which local chiefs had to secure recruits.

Experts said that the Sultans of Makenga, who once fought for Kagama in the early 1990s in Rwanda, and now the Military Chief of the M23, attended some of the ceremonies of passing between September 25 and October 31, 2024, including 3,000 recruits.

Rwande Yolanda Makolo spokeswoman did not address whether the Rwanda Camp Officers were at the M23 camp, but she denied accusations of children’s soldiers, saying to the BBC last year: “The request for hiring of juveniles in camps is absurd, it is a cheeky information warfare against Rwanda. ”

However, the UN Expert reports that the power of the M23 has grown from May when the numbers have been placed at about 3000.

Experts estimate that between 3,000 and 4,000 troops of the Rwandan army on the ground in Dr. Congo – saying that this is based on certified photos, shots of drones, videos, testimonies and intelligence.

Trapped M23 fighters said that the Rwandans were known as a “friendly force”, and a report of a specialist in December said that the English term was “genericly used” even when the respondents spoke in other languages.

They said that these special forces in Rwandam were there to train and support the rebels, and did not communicate with the M23 monks.

Rwande Uganda’s ally, dissatisfied with the second rebel group in Dr. Congo, threatening his safety, was also accused of helping M23 – with her officers who also noticed in Tchanzu. UN experts say that UNDA also supplied the weapons, hosted the rebel leaders and allowed the cross -border movements of the M23 fighters – Campal’s accusations denied.

Kagama recently expressed his frustration that after Tshisekedi came to power in 2019, his proposal to work together with the Congole Army to fight FDLR was rejected – unlike the common offensive of Dr. Cong and Uganda against Islamist Allied democratic forces (ADF) rebels.

This can explain the re -emergence of the M23 in 2021. – with evidence that shows that Rwanda’s support of the group is still growing.

Clémentine de Montjoye, a senior researcher of the African Division in Human Rights Watch, told the BBC that geolocated paintings set up troops of Rwanda in Sake, a city, just outside Gom last week.

UN experts say that the decision of the M23 is to capture the mining city of Rubaya, which in May fell on its forces, “motivated by the strategic need for monopolisation of a” lucrative store in Coltan, used to create electric vehicles and mobile devices and mobile devices and mobile appliances phones.

Her report in December says that the group is now collecting at least 800,000 USD (£ 643,000) a month from the taxation of Coltan in Rubai – and ensures that about 120 tons of wounded minerals are sent directly in Rwanda every four weeks.

Includes satellite images to show that the road was expanded by September on the Congolese side of the border crossing of Kibumbuba to allow access to heavy trucks that were not previously able to use a route in Rwanda.

Mrs. de Montjoye explained that the advanced weapon used by the M23 was not available to any other of the many armed groups that worked in Eastern DR Congo.

“Earl last year, we documented that Rwanda and M23 forces fired 122 mm rockets, hitting the displacement campsites,” she told the BBC.

“Certainly with the type of military support M23 received that they were able to achieve such progress [on Goma]. “

UN experts have documented many such examples, including the use of Israeli rockets against the field.

Mr Moncoryf said M23 also uses the technology to interfere with the global positioning system (GPS), which stopped the Congool army from the flying drones he acquired from China.

UN experts said that “Spoofing and Obstari” are near the areas controlled by the M23 and the Rwanda Army also disturbed other aircraft.

President Kagama rejected these UN reports, pouring out contempt for their “expertise” and saying that they neglect many anger committed in Dr. Congo to focus on the “imaginary problems” created by M23.

East African community – led by President Kenya – is now trying to mediate, although Tshiseekedi said he would not attend a hectic organized emergency summit.

Observers say that Rwande President will tell any mediator that FDLR is the only subject of discussion because it is accident that their presence is to make Dr. Congo a insecure neighbor – something he repeated at a press conference earlier this month.

“Honestly, for the last 30 years, if anyone wanted to understand what problems are [in DR Congo] And what solutions should be, you don’t even have to be an expert, “Kagama said.