As a result of the rising spate of attacks between Rwanda and Congo, the Rwandan Foreign Ministry has reiterated its earlier warnings that the nation would fight back if it suffers further attacks from the neighbouring country, the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Foreign Minister, Vincent Biruta, told reporters on Wednesday after accusing Congo of firing shells across the border in May this year.
“If attacks continue, we will not sit idly by, Rwanda will have the right to respond to protect the security of the country, to protect the security of its citizens, and we’ve the means to do that,” Biruta said.
Congo had summoned Rwanda’s ambassador and suspended RwandAir flights to Congo last weekend in response to what it said was Kigali’s support for M23 rebels carrying out a military offensive in its eastern borderlands.
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Rwanda, however, denied the claims and has, in turn, accused Congo’s army of fighting alongside the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), an armed group founded by ethnic Hutus who fled Rwanda after partaking in the 1994 genocide.
The clashes threaten to unravel relations between both countries, which had improved since Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi came to power three years ago.
The M23 insurgency stems from the long fallout of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda
In another report, Britain has also announced plans that aims to send a first group of asylum seekers to Rwanda in two weeks’ time as part of a policy which the government says is designed to break people-smuggling networks and stem the flow of migrants across the Channel.
In April, Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government announced plans to send some of the people who seek asylum in Britain to Rwanda in a plan that drew criticism from both within and outside Johnson’s Conservative Party as well as from many charities.
The Home Office said on Tuesday that an initial group of migrants have started to receive formal letters telling them they are being sent to Rwanda to “rebuild their lives in safety”.
“The Removal Direction confirms that they will be going to Rwanda and when,” Britain’s Home Secretary Priti Patel said in a statement. “The first flight is expected to take place next month, on the 14th of June.”
