APA – Kigali (Rwanda) – Rwandan President Kagame has had a productive call with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken on Monday to discuss the deterioration of the security situation in Eastern DRC, as well as the need for de-escalation of hostilities and a political resolution to the conflict, an official source confirmed to APA in Kigali.
During the talks, Kagame reiterated Rwanda’s firm support for the ongoing regional processes to bring peace and stability to DRC and the region.
The DRC government continues to accuse Rwandan forces of entering its border area and backing M23 rebels in eastern DR Congo, a claim denied by Kigali.
President Kagame denies supporting the Tutsi-led M23 but has called for action in the area under control of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, or FDLR, an ethnic Hutu armed group with links to perpetrators of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.
Armed groups have plagued much of eastern DR Congo for three decades, a legacy of regional wars that flared in the 1990s and 2000s.
In a related development, fighting between the M23 and the DRC army has led to a looming humanitarian crisis as thousands have been displaced in North Kivu province near the border with Rwanda.
Clashes have broken out around the villages of Kibumba, Bwiza, Kitshanga and Kwitabi, M23 rebel spokesperson Major Willy Ngoma, said on Monday.
CU/as/APA