Obama tells Rwanda to end DRC rebel support, UN peacekeepers put on alert

Washington – US President Barack Obama on Tuesday called on Rwandan President Paul Kagame to end all support for rebels in the conflict-wracked Democratic Republic of Congo, the White House said.

It issued the strongly worded statement after Washington imposed sanctions on two top leaders of the M23 rebel group, saying they had used child soldiers and singled out children as targets.In his telephone conversation with Kagame, Obama ‘underscored that any support to the rebel group M23 is inconsistent with Rwanda’s desire for stability and peace’, the White House said.Obama stressed to Kagame ‘the importance of permanently ending all support to armed groups in the DRC, abiding by the recent commitments he made… and reaching a transparent and credible political agreement that includes an end to impunity for M23 commanders and others’ who committed rights abuses, it said.The DRC government has been battling the M23, former army soldiers who UN experts say are backed by Rwanda, since they launched a mutiny in April.Several of the group’s leaders have been hit by UN sanctions over alleged atrocities.Obama called for a political agreement in the DRC that ‘addresses the underlying regional security, economic and governance issues while upholding the DRC’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.’The White House said he had delivered the same message to DRC President Joseph Kabila.During their talks, Obama and Kagame also discussed the DRC’s ‘longstanding governance problems’, according to the White House.’President Obama welcomed President Kagame’s commitment to moving forward in finding a peaceful solution for eastern DRC,’ it added.Also on Tuesday, the United States launched a fresh appeal for the arrest and prosecution of two rebel leaders from Rwanda and DRC wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes.Sylvestre Mudacumura, the head of Rwanda’s main Hutu rebel group and DRC’s Bosco Ntaganda, an ex-general who spurred the ongoing mutiny in the east, are both the subject of outstanding ICC warrants.Meanwhile, the UN put peacekeeper reinforcements on alert on Tuesday after hundreds of rebels moved around the key DRC city of Goma, UN officials said. The UN raised new worries about the M23 and other rebel groups as it announced that at least 126 women were raped in a nearby town, mainly by Congolese government troops as they retreated from Goma last month.The M23 briefly took Goma last month before withdrawing and agreeing to start talks with the government in Kampala.The UN peacekeeping chief Herve Ladous briefed the UN Security Council about renewed tensions around Goma and preparations in case new hostilities erupt.Afterwards, he told reporters hundreds of M23 fighters have been reported to be inside a cease-fire zone 20km around Goma.’We are ready to send reinforcements to Goma very, very quickly if circumstances demand,’ Ladsous said. -Nampa-Sapa-AFP

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