A confidential report to the United Nations Security Council accuses
Rwanda of providing training, financing and logistical support through
early 2016 for Burundian rebels seeking to oust Burundi’s President
Pierre Nkurunziza.
A panel of six independent experts, appointed by the United Nations
to monitor Security Council sanctions on Democratic Republic of Congo,
had confidentially reported in February that 18 Burundian combatants in
eastern Congo said they had been recruited in a refugee camp in Rwanda
in mid-2015 and trained by instructors, who included Rwandan military
personnel. Rwanda has repeatedly denied the claims.
In the experts latest report, seen by Reuters on Thursday and due to
be discussed by the Security Council sanctions committee on Friday, they
said “similar outside support continued through early 2016.”
The U.N. experts said they had presented their findings to the
Rwandan government “which denied any involvement, noting it was ‘unaware
of recruitment of Burundian refugees in Mahama (refugee) camp.'”
Rwanda’s U.N. mission did not immediately respond to a request for
comment.
“This took the form of training, financing and logistical support for
Burundian combatants crossing from Rwanda to DRC,” the group of experts
wrote in the report.
“The group met with Rwandan nationals, as well, who said they had
been involved in the training of Burundian combatants or had been sent
to the DRC to help support the Burundian opposition,” they said.
The findings contradict suggestions from Western officials in recent
months who said any Rwandan support for Burundian rebels appeared to
have ceased last year. The United States said it had raised concerns
with Rwanda over reports it was meddling in Burundi.
Political violence has simmered in Burundi for a year after
Nkurunziza pursued and won a third term. The crisis has sparked concerns
it could spiral into an ethnic conflict in a region where memories of
neighboring Rwanda’s 1994 genocide are fresh.
Burundi has an ethnic Hutu majority and Tutsi minority, the same split as in neighboring Rwanda.
The U.N. experts said they had presented their findings to the
Rwandan government “which denied any involvement, noting it was ‘unaware
of recruitment of Burundian refugees in Mahama (refugee) camp.'”
Rwanda’s U.N. mission did not immediately respond to a request for
comment.
Some Security Council members want to deploy U.N. police to Burundi
to help quell the violence and monitor the border between Burundi and
Rwanda. The U.N. experts also reported that several Congolese officers told
them North Korea has supplied Congolese troops and police with pistols
and sent 30 instructors to provide training for the presidential guard
and special forces.
There is a U.N. arms embargo on North Korea that prevents Pyongyang
from importing or exporting weapons and training. An arms embargo on
Congo requires states to notify the Security Council sanctions committee
of any arms sales or training.
The experts said they found that several Congolese army officers, as
well as several police deployed abroad in a U.N. mission, appeared to
have North Korean pistols. The Congolese officers said the pistols were delivered by North Korea
to the Congolese port of Matadi in early 2014. “The group also found
that the same type of pistols was available for sale on the black market
in Kinshasa,” the report said.
The experts said they had asked Pyongyang and Congo for information
but had not yet received a response. Congolese and North Korean
officials had no immediate comment. Political tension is high in Congo, where opponents of President
Joseph Kabila say he is trying to cling to power beyond the end of his
mandate in 2016. Kabila has not commented on his future
Source: cctv-africa.com
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