GOMA, DR Congo: Some 3,000-4,000 Rwandan soldiers fought alongside M23 rebels in east DR Congo, said a UN experts report seen by AFP Monday, which noted that Kigali had “de facto control” of the group’s operations.
The North Kivu province has been in the grip of the M23 (March 23 Movement) rebellion since the end of 2021, with the group seizing swathes of territory in the region and installing a parallel regime in areas now under its control.
Kinshasa has accused Rwanda of backing the Tutsi-led M23 rebel group. Kigali has never acknowledged its troops were operating in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
But the report commissioned by the UN Security Council said the Rwandan army’s “de facto control and direction over M23 operations” renders the country “liable for the actions of M23.”
Rwanda Defense Force (RDF) military interventions and operations in the Nyiragongo, Rutshuru and Masisi territories — all in North Kivu — “were critical to the impressive territorial expansion achieved between January and March 2024” by the M23, the report stated.
The report’s researchers estimated that at the time of writing in April the number of Rwandan troops were “matching if not surpassing” the number of M23 soldiers, thought to be at around 3,000.
The report contains authenticated photographs, drone footage, video recordings, testimony and intelligence, which it says confirm the RDF’s systematic border incursions.
The footage and photos show rows of armed men in uniform, operating equipment such as artillery and armored vehicles with radar and anti-aircraft missile systems, as well as trucks to transport troops.
Until the end of 2023, Rwandan authorities publicly denied that their troops were operating alongside M23 rebels in Nord Kivu, but since then Kigali has no longer commented directly on such accusations.
Rwandan President Paul Kagame said on June 20 on France 24 “we are ready to fight” against the Democratic Republic of Congo if necessary, although he avoided the question of his country’s military presence in the country.
For several months the United States, France, Belgium and the European Union have been calling on Rwanda to withdraw its forces and ground-to-air missiles from Congolese soil and to stop supporting the M23.
The report also said that children from the age of 12 have been recruited from “almost all refugee camps in Rwanda” to be sent to training camps in the rebel zone under supervision of Rwandan soldiers and M23 combatants.
“Recruits aged 15 and above were combat-trained and dispatched to the frontlines to fight,” it said.
It added that the recruitment of minors in Rwanda was generally carried out by intelligence officers “through false promises of remuneration or employment,” and that those “who did not consent were taken forcefully.”
During their offensives the M23 and Rwandan army “specifically targeted localities, predominantly inhabited by Hutus, in areas known to be strongholds of FDLR” — the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda.
The FDLR is a Rwandan rebel group formed by former senior Hutu officials behind the genocide of the Tutsi in Rwanda in 1994, who have since taken refuge in DR Congo.
The presence of the group in the eastern DR Congo is considered by Kigali as a threat.
The international community has called for an end to foreign intervention in war-riddled DR Congo and also asked Kinshasa to distance itself from the FDLR.
But the UN report noted that the DRC government has used several “North Kivu armed groups, including the FDLR, to fight M23 and RDF.”
This mixture of armed groups fighting alongside the Congolese army is known as the Wazalendo — Swahili for patriots.
The experts who wrote the report accused the Wazalendo of numerous violations of human rights and international humanitarian law.
The experts also said they had confirmation of “active support” for the M23 from members of the Ugandan intelligence services.
This comes even though Uganda’s army has been working alongside the Congolese army in its fight against another rebel group affiliated with the Daesh group, some 100 kilometers north of the area under the control of the M23.
Rwandan troops fought alongside M23 rebels in DR Congo: UN experts
https://arab.news/5kw38
Rwandan troops fought alongside M23 rebels in DR Congo: UN experts
- Kinshasa has accused Rwanda of backing the Tutsi-led M23 rebel group
- Until the end of 2023, Rwandan authorities publicly denied that their troops were operating alongside M23 rebels in Nord Kivu
In rare overlap, Chinese Muslims observe Ramadan with Lunar New Year
- Lunar New Year started on Feb. 17 and is celebrated for another two weeks
- Chinese Indonesians make up about 3 percent of the Indonesian population
JAKARTA: Every year, on the first day of Lunar New Year, Febriani visits relatives and gathers for a feast with her Chinese Muslim family, part of a long-standing tradition honoring their ethnic heritage.
But this year, as Thursday marks the beginning of Ramadan, she is celebrating two important occasions within the same week, in a rare overlap that last took place in 1995.
“I’m very happy and grateful that Lunar New Year and Ramadan are celebrated so closely. I observe both every year, so it’s truly special,” she told Arab News.
Widely observed across Asia, the Lunar New Year or Chinese New Year festival is believed to date back to the 14th century B.C., to the times of the Shang Dynasty, China’s earliest ruling dynasty, when people celebrated good harvests.
In 2026, it started on Feb. 17 and is celebrated for another two weeks. For many, celebrations typically involve elaborate feasts, giving children pocket money in red envelopes, and watching dragon dance parades.
In Indonesia, Chinese-descent citizens make up an estimated 3 percent of the country’s Muslim-majority population of more than 280 million. While most are either Buddhists or Christians, a small minority professes Islam.
For 25-year-old Febriani, both Lunar New Year and Ramadan are equally meaningful.
“The two celebrations teach us to strengthen bonds, to share with one another, and to become closer to family,” she said.
“They are both important to me because they happen only once every year and they’re always an occasion to gather with the extended family. It is also a chance to self-reflect and strengthen relationships with your loved ones.”
For Naga Kunadi, whose family lives in Central Java’s Cepu district, Chinese New Year is all about embracing his ethnic identity.
Earlier in the week, his family was busy preparing for the new year’s feast, which was a fusion of Chinese and Indonesian dishes, such as claypot tofu, meatball soup and shumai, or steamed dumplings.
“To celebrate Chinese New Year, we prepared halal Chinese food at home. It’s also a way to introduce to my children the traditions from our Chinese side, but there’s a bit of a fusion because my wife is Javanese,” Kunadi told Arab News.
Kunadi, an Islamic teacher at the Lautze Mosque in Jakarta, sees both Chinese New Year and Ramadan as opportunities to teach important life values for his two children.
Upholding Chinese New Year traditions with his family is for him a way of preserving his ethnic heritage.
“We want to preserve cultural values as long as it does not clash with our religion,” he said.
“If we leave our culture behind, we might lose our identity, so this is something I want to teach my children.”
The fasting month of Ramadan, on the other hand, gives him a chance to teach and practice honesty.
“I want to focus on the religious and moral aspects during the holy month of Ramadan, when we practice honesty on a personal level,” Kunadi said.
“There’s always an opportunity to eat or snack in secret without anybody knowing, but we train ourselves not to do that. For me, Ramadan is a time for everyone to put honesty into practice, including myself and my children.”
