Uganda’s chargé d’affaires in the DRC, Matata Twaha, was summoned on Friday by Congolese Deputy Foreign Minister Gracia Yamba Kazadi. The meeting follows a United Nations report accusing his country of supporting the M23 rebels. Twaha has strongly refuted the accusations, denouncing a clumsy move by the UN that could chill previously cordial diplomatic ties.
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With our correspondent in Kinshasa, Patient Ligodi
Regarding the report of the UN experts, Matata Twaha said that his country is waiting for the official communication from theUN before reacting formally. He expressed the wish that this report be first shared with theUgandaso that his answers can also be integrated.
The Ugandan chargé d’affaires said the leak of the report was intended to poison relations between the two states. He said, regarding accusations that Rwandan soldiers and fighters from the M23 would have passed through Uganda: ” A rebel remains a rebel and can act in ways that go unnoticed. “However, he asked for time to examine all the details.
UN experts have said that the scale and frequency of movements of Rwandan military and M23 fighters across Ugandan territory make it unlikely that such a presence would go unnoticed. Since 2022, M23 fighters have regularly claimed that their supplies and new recruits were passing through the Ugandan border towns of Kisoro and Bunagana.
These accusations are described as ” allegations ” by the Ugandan diplomat. He highlighted the joint operations carried out by the armies of his country and DRC on Congolese territory, as an illustration of good relations between the two parties. We cannot work with the Congolese authorities in the fight against the ADF and at the same time support other rebels on the backs of the DRC “, he argues.
To rereadDRC: Uganda’s support for M23 rebels highlighted by new report from UN experts
The UN group of experts, however, says it has obtained evidence. It says its sources have confirmed the presence of Ugandan military intelligence officers in Bunagana since at least late last year, coordinating with M23 leaders, providing logistics and transporting rebel leaders to areas under its control.
According to sources within the office of the Congolese president Felix Tshisekedithe case is far from closed. Further consultations will take place at the highest level to shed full light on these accusations, after this UN leak which not only reacts in the Democratic Republic of Congo, in Ugandabut also in Rwanda.
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