Congo's President Joseph Kabila said on Wednesday Rwandan troops had helped renegade soldiers seize an eastern border town and vowed to fight back, raising fears of a resumption of war between the two countries.
Rwanda denied any involvement in the fighting.
PHOTO: AFP
Kabila said on state television that Congo's army had been mobilized to retake control of Bukavu, which was captured earlier on Wednesday by dissident fighters after a week of clashes with government troops.
"Since this morning there are Rwandan troops with ... the insurgents," Kabila said. "It's an aggression against our country by Rwandans who control the town of Bukavu."
"We have decided to mobilize our resources and men and finances to defend ourselves," he said.
The renegade troops who seized Bukavu are former rebel fighters from the Rwandan-backed RCD-Goma, the biggest rebel faction during the Democratic Republic of Congo's five-year war which was officially declared over last year.
Rwandan Foreign Minister Charles Muligande said there were no Rwandan troops anywhere on Congolese territory.
"These accusations are without foundation. Each time they have a situation they cannot handle they blame us instead of taking responsibility for themselves," he said.
Sebastien Lapierre, a spokesman with the United Nations mission (MONUC) in Bukavu, said he could not confirm the presence of Rwandan troops in the town.
The UN Security Council called for an immediate end to the violence in Bukavu and condemned the "local incitement of hatred" against Banyamulenge tribesmen.
The two neighbors have a history of bad blood.
Rwanda first invaded Congo in 1996, saying it was defending itself from attacks by Hutu rebels who had fled to what was Zaire after being involved in Rwanda's 1994 genocide of 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus.
It attacked again in 1998, sparking a messy regional war which sucked in the armies of half a dozen African countries. Three million people died, mainly from disease and starvation.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in