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Rwanda denies its troops attacked displaced persons camp in DR Congo

People gather at the side of an explosion in a refugee camp on the outskirts of Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo on May, 3, 2024. (Photo: AP/Moses Sawasawa)

By Reuters | 05 May 2024

Rwandan government spokesperson Yolande Makolo denied the RDF was behind the attack and instead blamed it on militias supported by the Congolese military.

Rwanda on Saturday denied Accusations that its forces attacked a displaced persons' camp in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and instead blamed militias it said were supported by the Congolese military for the assault.

The attack was mounted from positions held by the Rwandan Defense Forces (RDF) and the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group.

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Rwandan government spokesperson Yolande Makolo denied the RDF was behind the attack and instead blamed it on militias supported by the Congolese military.

"The RDF, a professional army, would never attack an IDP (displaced persons). Look to the lawless FDLR and Wazalendo supported by the FARDC (Congolese military) for this kind of atrocity," she said in a post on X.

The Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) is a Hutu group founded by Hutu officials who fled Rwanda after orchestrating the 1994 genocide while Wazalendo is a Christian sect.

A two-year offensive by M23 rebels has moved closer to the eastern Congolese city of Goma in recent months, prompting thousands to seek refuge in the city from surrounding areas.

The Congo branch of the medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said it had to stop a distribution round and halt medical consultations on Friday morning because of rising insecurity.

MSF Congo "condemns the increasingly regular use of heavy artillery in the immediate proximity of displacement camps around Goma," it posted on X.

The United Nations' peacekeeping mission in Congo, MONUSCO, also condemned the bombing in a statement and called on Congolese authorities to prosecute perpetrators.

In February, a strike blasted a crater into the ground in the same Lac Vert neighbourhood. Nobody was hurt in that attack, but it underscored the seriousness of the threat to Goma, a strategic urban hub in the conflict-ridden eastern DRC.