OWN CORRESPONDENT, Durban | Sunday 9.00PM.
RWANDA will send troops into the Democratic Republic of Congo if the latest peace efforts under the leadership of South African President Nelson Mandela fail, Rwanda has warned.
Rwandan Foreign Minister Anastase Gasana, in Durban to attend the Non-Aligned Movement summit, told reporters on Saturday that the genocide of 1994 in which an estimated million Tutsis and moderate Hutus were massacred in Rwanda, was starting again, this time in the DRC.
He accused DRC President Laurent Kabila of training 10000 Rwandan Hutu extremists, who had already taken part in the 1994 genocide, in preparation for killing Tutsis in the DRC.
“We will have no choice but to intervene militarily to go and rescue Rwandese who are living in the DRC, as well as some Congolese like the Banyamulenge who do not support the killings or any form of segregation,” he said. “The Rwandan government will do everything possible to save those trapped in the conflict simply because they do not support the criminal activities of Kabila’s government. “When a head of state makes an appeal on a state radio to kill one section of his population, it is very dangerous.” He was referring to broadcasts on DRC state radio calling for the killing of Tutsis, which have been reminiscent of the radio broadcasts which preceded the Rwandan genocide.
“Genocide has no borders… be assured we will make a military intervention and it will be acceptable to the Rwandese population and the international community,” he said.
Gasana called on NAM members and the international community to support Mandela’s initiative for a peaceful resolution of the DRC conflict.
Kabila, who was in Harare visiting Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe at the weekend, has repeated his claim the South Africa sent “60 tons” of arms to the rebels before the conflict began.
South African deputy foreign minister Aziz Paha has dismissed the allegation as “completely unfounded”.
“We are a democracy,” Pahad said on SABC3. “The structures within the state would bot permit the sale of arms where it would mean increased conflict.”