Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Kinshasa (Agenzia Fides) - The Rwandan military have entered Congolese territory where they are lined up 3 km from Goma, capital of North Kivu (eastern Democratic Republic of Congo). This was revealed in a note sent to Fides Agency by the Provincial Coordination of Civil Society in North Kivu. According to the note, the military, coming from the capital of Rwanda, Kigali and from Butare and Gisenyi, camped in Murambi, in the territory of Nyiragongo, near the airport of Goma.
It is estimated that their battalion amounts to about 300 men, armed with machine guns and rocket launchers. The soldiers are consolidating their positions, digging trenches and installing camouflage tarps.
The Congolese press correlates the consolidation of the Rwandan military positions on the border with the DRC with the failure of negotiations in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, between the government of Kinshasa and the rebels of the M23, defeated militarily by the Congolese army (with the help of UN peacekeepers). The Congolese delegation refused to sign an agreement text that had been presented before the defeat of the rebels. Among the issues under discussion is that on the integration in the Congolese armed forces of former rebels. A controversial issue because in the recent past, other guerrilla groups that have integrated the army took the opportunity to continue to act with impunity in the east of the DRC. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 13/11/2013)
