Congo fails to draw Rwanda into civil conflict

CONGO’S REGIME TROOPS FIRE INTO RWANDA

In what has been described as a blatant act of aggression and an overt attempt to drag Rwanda into the civil conflict raging in Eastern Congo, have regime soldiers fired mortar rounds and shells into Rwanda, killing at least two innocent Rwandans and injuring several more. Notably this is the second incident of this kind within days.

There is suspicion amongst the friends of Rwanda that the DRC regime, though instantly offering apologies and vowing to punish the responsible commanders and troops on the ground was part of a deliberate provocation conceived in Kinshasa, hoping that Rwanda would respond in kind and could then be blamed as a war monger. Other sources offered opinions that this was part of a campaign to destabilize Rwanda and to hit in particular the tourism industry, which has in recent years become the backbone of Rwanda’s economy.

Of course no one has been in the room when and where this was planned, but the Congolese do not just by accident direct fire into Rwanda. That is part of an evil conspiracy involving the Kabila government which has desperately tried to make Rwanda look bad. They made all sorts of accusations about us, claimed we support rebels in Congo and yet all we do is secure our own borders. From that part of Congo, please remember that, have many attacks been fielded against us by militias Kabila’s forces have failed to contain. In fact they let them operate freely as if they were allies. The UN tried to smear us and you in Uganda for complicity to support rebels. No one shred of evidence was however produced. It is clear that certain elements within the UN are in league with Kinshasa and have become their willing stooges. I think our government will just continue to secure our borders the way they have done but not be drawn into the internal affairs of Congo. What is going on there is not our but their problem. We have in the past helped to solve it but were then told we were invaders even though we had a mandate. It is clear that Kabila’s handling of the affairs in the East is causing all these problems, so let him solve his own problems. Even if it happens again, I don’t see our government to shoot back. All Rwanda wants is peace in the Great Lakes region, respect for human rights and for the criminals who were part of our genocide to be arrested and brought to justice’ said a regular source in an email communication overnight, after discussing the escalation of a long festering conflict in the Goma region across from the Rwandan border town of Gisenyi.

Goma is now within sight of the main rebel group fighting government troops and the supposedly neutral UN force turned allies of Kinshasa, at last shedding even the pretence of being independent and acting as a protection force for civilians, who have suffered unspeakable hardships from the hands of Kinshasa’s soldiers.

Another source speculated that some of the mortars and shells were very likely aimed at some communications equipment inside Rwanda which if true would again support suggestions from a wide range of sources that this was a planned and not an accidental incident.

Tourism sources have rushed to give reassurance that not one tourist was in the vicinity of the incident and that all humanly possible precautions are being taken to ensure that visitors to Rwanda, and in particular the town of Gisenyi, or the Congo Nile Trail and the Parc de Volcanoes, are kept safe and sound. Watch this space as the situation on the ground remains extremely volatile inside Congo and very watchful but calm inside Rwanda.