Rwanda likely withdraws war threat to Congo: official

Rwandan Foreign Minister Charles Muligande said here on Monday that the government is likely to endwar threat to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) if the international community takes control of disarming the rebels in Congo.

The minister made the remarks while addressing journalists on the Sunday talks between President Paul Kagame and European Union Commissioner Loius Micheal.

"Both the president and Micheal had smooth talks which with no doubt will bear a good relationship between Congo and Rwanda," said Muligande, noting that the Kinshasa government must take a responsibility of rooting out the Interahamwe and ex-FAR militias who are largely blamed for the 1994 genocide.

The Interahamwe and the ex-FAR were drawn from Rwanda's Hutu militia and former army, blamed for the 1994 genocide which killed800,000 people. Rwanda twice sent troops into the DRC under the pretext of rooting out the rebels.

Rwanda has long accused the Congolese government of failing to disarm the rebels, and threatened several times to send troops to the DRC, prompting Kinshasa to send reinforcements to the region.

"The threat to attack is no more but Rwanda needs her security to be at full control from border to border," Muligande said.

"The threat to attack comes to end and we hope that the international community takes a straight angle to end the insurgents in Congo," he added.

He dismissed the UN peacekeepers in Congo (MONUC) allegations that Rwanda sent troops to Congo.

"If MONUC can provide requisite proof of Rwanda's involvement in the recent clashes between the DRC regular army and dissident soldiers allied to former RCD-Goma rebel faction, then Rwanda would have no ground to refute the allegations," he noted.

Fighting erupted over a week ago between the Congolese government reinforcements sent to the east and RCD-Goma, a factionbacked by Rwanda during Congo's five-year war but now meant to be part of the national army.

While clashing with the government reinforcements, the RCD-Goma accused the Rwandan rebels Interahamwe and ex-FAR operating in theDRC have in the past two weeks terrorized the Congolese community,raping looting and killing civilians.

Rwanda sent troops into eastern DRC in 1996 and 1998, citing security threat from the exiled Hutu rebels. President Kagame and his Congolese counterpart Joseph Kabila signed a peace pact in July 2002, and Rwanda agreed to pull out its 20,000 soldiers in Congo, and Kinshasa agreed to disarm and repatriate Rwandan Hutu extremists.

The last batch of Rwandan troops left Congo in October 2002, but Kinshasa has reportedly only managed to round up around one-third of the estimated 10,000-20,000 Hutu extremists in the vast central African country.

Source: Xinhua