On Thursday July the 27th 2023, in a communiqué the Democratic Republic of Congo reported that they fought against Rwandan forces trying to cross into Nyiragongo territory (DRC).
General Sylvain Ekenge, a spokesperson of staff confirmed the fighting between DRC forces and Rwandan forces.
One Rwandan force died, Ekenge said.
So far Rwanda has remained evasive over the Democratic Republic of Congo’s statements.
In a statement issued by Sylvain Ekenge, informed that FARDC forces endeavored to retreat Rwandan forces as far as border.
According to local civil society, the shooting broke out when Rwandan soldiers tried to smuggle traffickers known as “chora-chora” into Congo, between the 13 and 14 dividing lines between the DRC and Rwanda.
“We were alerted on Thursday that a soldier had been killed while trying to help a Chora Chora to cross. He even went so far as to violate Congolese territory, at which point the Congolese soldiers fired on him”, said Placide Nzilamba, a member of civil society in North Kivu.
Rwandan soldiers crossed into Congolese territory to recover the body of the soldier who was forcing the trafficker to cross, he added.
The fighting between both neighboring countries have occurred since last year when Kinshasa accused Kigali of backing a Tutsi armed group M23 rebels, that’s fighting in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
The Rwandan government has denied the allegations.
The conflict in eastern DRC has gone on for decades, with more than 100 armed groups fighting for control of valuable mineral resources while others protect their communities, and has triggered an exodus of refugees.
Rwanda in turn accuses the DRC of supporting the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), another rebel group based in the DRC that out raids into Rwanda in the past.
The FDLR has been accused of participation in the 1994 Rwandan genocide, in which ethnic Hutus killed more than 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus who tried to protect them.
Last year, the UN pundits said they had tangible evidence” of Rwandan government forces crossing into the DRC to reinforce M23 rebels or to carry out operations against the FDLR.
The US and the European Union have urged Rwanda to stop backing.
The Rwandan government has denied supporting M23 and says the accusations are part of a “tired old blame game” undermining efforts for peace, “to which Rwanda is fully committed”.
The DR Congo’s president Felix Tshisekedi has mainly criticized and slamed the regional forces deployed by the East African Countries in conflict battered-regions in the country’s east of not hunting M23 rebel.
Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame has said DRC authorities should solve their own problems. In January he said that the crisis in the DRC “is not Rwanda’s problem, and we are going to make sure that everybody realizes it is not Rwanda’s problem.
