International concern was growing on Thursday after Rwandan President Paul Kagame announced that his country’s troops will launch an operation in pursuit of Rwandan Hutu rebels in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
In a letter to the African Union (AU), seen late on Wednesday by AFP, Kagame wrote that he hoped the operation would not last longer than two weeks and that it would target only the rebels.
‘I trust that within a period not exceeding 14 days from the start of the envisaged operation, a solution will be found that will allow for the speedy return of Rwandan troops to the confines of her borders,” said the letter, dated November 25.
”Rwanda would not target any Congolese forces, but on the contrary hopes to work with them to solve the problem, something we have requested several times from the DRC government,” he wrote to the current head of the AU, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Meanwhile, the head of the United Nations mission in DRC, Monuc, in the eastern town of Goma, told journalists that scores of what appeared to be Rwandan soldiers had been seen in the area.
”This morning I received information that has yet to be confirmed that a team we sent to Rutshuru region, in Virunga park, had come across a group of 100 soldiers suspected to be Rwandans,” the Monuc chief, M’Hand Djalouzi, said.
A military source in Goma said clashes had been going on for several days between the Rwandan army and the Hutu rebels.
The United States said on Wednesday that it is sending a senior diplomat to Rwanda and the DRC this week to urge both countries to resolve their disputes peacefully.
”Obviously, we believe that both countries should solve their differences diplomatically and not militarily, through the exchange of gunfire or the movement of troops in the area,” deputy State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said.
He said Washington had been unable to verify independently the presence of Rwandan soldiers on DRC territory but renewed calls for the two neighbours, along with Uganda, to hold high-level talks to ease tensions.
Britain has urged Rwanda not to carry out its threat to send troops into the DRC, warning it could have ”very serious repercussions” for the central African countries.
”We’re very concerned by reports that Rwanda is considering a cross-border incursion,” a Foreign Office spokesman said. ”We have been seeking to forestall any such action by the Rwandan government.”
In a statement received by AFP, Monuc said: ”Any threat to commitments made or aimed at stifling efforts under way is unacceptable and unjustifiable … especially as it would have grave consequences for the (peace) process in DRC and for stability in the region.”
On Tuesday, the secretary-general of a former DRC rebel group, Jean Louis Ernest Kyaviro, said two brigades of Rwandan troops had crossed the border ”several days ago” near Rutshuru and Lubero, which lie 70km and 250km north of the border town of Goma respectively. He said the Rwandans had burned huts and killed about 60 people.
Goma was the headquarters of another rebel group which Rwanda backed militarily and politically during DRC’s devastating 1998-2003 war.
Increasing tensions, DRC President Joseph Kabila announced on Tuesday that 10 000 extra soldiers would be deployed to the east to maintain security there.
Apart from during the 1998-2003 war, Rwanda also sent troops to DRC in 1996, during an earlier conflict that led to the fall of president Mobutu Sese Seko.
On both occasions Kigali justified the move with the need to neutralise the Hutu extremists opposed to the Tutsi minority, which holds power. The UN has accused Rwanda, however, of profiting by extracting valuable minerals there.
On Wednesday a committee comprised of ambassadors from the five permanent members of the UN Security Council in Kinshasa overseeing the transition to peace denounced what it called a new ”aggression” against the DRC.
If Rwanda has actually sent troops across the border, the action goes against several undertakings, most recently a commitment to resolve the region’s problems peacefully made during a summit meeting in Tanzania in November 20. – Sapa-AFP