Today, BBC reports: “Rwanda’s foreign minister has angrily denied reports that her country is backing an army mutiny in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.”

Last week, Reuters reported: “U.N. experts have evidence Rwanda’s defense minister and two top military officials have been backing an army mutiny in the east of neighboring Congo…”

Also last week BBC reported: “The U.S. is covering up information about rebels led by a man wanted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court, Human Rights Watch has said.”

KAMBALE MUSAVULI, info at friendsofthecongo.org
Musavuli is the spokesperson for Friends of the Congo. He said today: “The U.N. is supposed to take up the matter today, but the U.S. has already delayed the publication of the most damaging aspects of the U.N. Group of Experts report and many speculate the U.S. will prevent any action against Rwanda. Rwanda’s foreign minister Louise Mushikiwabo stated that she would be in Washington for bilateral discussions this week.

“It is appalling to once more witness the cover-up by the United States State Department in light of the Group of Experts’ report on Rwanda’s destabilization of the Congo. The United States’ inaction toward its ally Rwanda only perpetuates the culture of impunity which translates in greater humanitarian issues in the Congo with the escalation of violence and displaced people. After almost 16 years of conflict in the Congo, primarily waged by its neighbors Rwanda and Uganda, it is time for the U.S. government to shift the way it is engaged in the Great Lakes region by holding perpetrators of violence accountable even if it is an ally.”

CLAUDE GATEBUKE, claude at aglan.org
Gatebuke is executive director of the African Great Lakes Action Network. He said today: “If the United States’ administration is to avoid the mistakes made by the administration during the 1994 Rwandan genocide, which I am a survivor of, they must act swiftly and decisively to withhold all military support and aid to Rwanda — or the failures of 1994 in Rwanda will continue to be repeated in Congo. Similarly, the U.N. must impose sanctions on Rwanda for breaching the arms embargo in Congo. Otherwise, ‘never again’ will remain a nice slogan reserved for post-massacre speeches.”