By Ange Kasongo and Benoit Nyemba
KINSHASA (Reuters) – The international community must take concrete action and impose sanctions on Rwanda to curb the M23 rebel conflict in eastern Congo and keep the peace in the wider region, Congo’s communications minister told Reuters on Monday.
An ongoing escalation has displaced around half a million more people and led to the capture last week of Congo’s largest eastern city Goma, fanning fears of regional wars like those that killed millions between 1996 and 2003, most from hunger and disease.
Foreign powers including the U.S. and the European Union have condemned Rwanda’s involvement in the fighting, which U.N. reports have said includes the deployment of thousands of its own troops and weapons in support of the Tutsi-led M23 militia.
“A strong decision (must be taken) not only to condemn, but to stop what Rwanda is doing, because it is not acceptable if you want to preserve peace in Africa and in our region,” Patrick Muyaya said in an interview in the capital Kinshasa.
“Sanctions are the minimum … in a context where there has been a deliberate violation of international law, in a context of indiscriminate killing,” said Muyaya, who is also the Congo government’s spokesperson.
Rwanda has said it is defending itself against the threat from Congolese militias, without directly commenting on whether its troops have crossed the border.
The Congolese health ministry had recorded 773 people killed and 2,800 wounded in and around Goma in the aftermath of the city’s capture as of Saturday.
On Monday, M23 fighters stood guard at a cemetery in Goma as local Red Cross workers buried 120 decomposing bodies to ease pressure on the city’s overcrowded morgues, said a Reuters reporter.
As Congolese troops fight to hold off an advance south from Goma into neighbouring South Kivu province, Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi and Rwanda’s Paul Kagame have agreed to attend a joint summit of the regional blocs of southern and eastern Africa on Feb. 7-8, Kenya’s president said on Monday.
Muyaya said sanctions were necessary to impel Rwanda to engage meaningfully in any negotiations. Congo is actively pursuing diplomatic and military options, he added, when asked if there were plans to try and retake control of Goma.
“For us as a government it is out of the question to leave our people at the mercy of aggressors.”
He said the government was concerned about the situation in North Kivu province, but “there is no need to panic” about South Kivu.
On Friday, France said it would propose a draft resolution to the U.N. Security Council to increase the pressure on Rwanda to withdraw its troops.
(Additional reporting by Humphrey Malalo in Nairobi; Writing by Alessandra Prentice; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
