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Rwanda accused Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) fighters on Tuesday of violating its airspace, a charge Kinshasa denied.
“At 17:03, a Sukhoi 25 from the Democratic Republic of the Congo violated Rwanda’s airspace for the third time in the Rubab district across from the city of Goma,” Rwandan government spokeswoman Yolande Makolo said on Tuesday. In a statement sent to AFP, she added that “defensive measures have been taken” but gave no details.”Rwanda urges the Democratic Republic of the Congo to stop this aggression,” she concluded. rice field.
In a statement issued in Kinshasa in the evening by the Ministry of Communications, the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo denied that the plane flew over Rwandan airspace and accused the Rwandan military of “attacking” the plane and a “deliberate act of aggression”. condemned. According to the government, “it amounts to an act of war. Rwanda had already accused Congolese fighters of violating its airspace in November and December.
AFP journalists heard loud noises in Goma, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, on Tuesday afternoon, followed by two shots and a passing Congolese Sukhoi plane. Eyewitnesses said a single bullet hit a Congolese plane that had managed to land on the runway at Goma airport. The shooting caused panic in Goma.
“The government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo condemns and strongly condemns the attack by Rwandan forces on a Sukhoi 25 aircraft,” Kinshasa said.
“This fighter plane was attacked while landing on the runway of Goma airport,” the Congolese government said in a statement. “The Rwandan fire was directed at a Congolese aircraft flying within Congolese territory, not over Rwandan airspace. The aircraft landed without significant property damage,” the text added. .
Kinshasa called “this tenth attack by Rwanda an act of deliberate aggression tantamount to an act of war with the sole purpose of thwarting ongoing efforts to restore peace” in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. I see it,” he said. the statement said.
It concluded that the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo “reserves its legitimate right to defend its territory and will not allow itself to be attacked.”
Fighting continues in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo between Congolese forces and M23 rebels (“23 March Movement”) despite announced ceasefires and troop withdrawals.
A summit in Luanda on 23 November decided on a ceasefire from 25 November and two days later North Kivu withdrew M23s from areas conquered over the past few months.
This largely Tutsi rebellion, which was defeated in 2013, will re-arm itself in late 2021. The fighters, supported and partially armed by the Rwandan army, occupied a large area north of Goma.
Kigali denies M23 support and accuses the Congolese army of complicity with the Rwandan Hutu rebellion operating in the eastern DRC since the 1994 Tutsi genocide in Rwanda.
A diplomatic initiative has been launched to resolve the crisis in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo where armed conflict has erupted.
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