{"id":45907,"date":"2022-05-31T19:24:42","date_gmt":"2022-05-31T19:24:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/we-won-t-sit-idly-by-rwanda-warns-drc-against-repetitive-provocations\/"},"modified":"2022-06-14T06:19:01","modified_gmt":"2022-06-14T06:19:01","slug":"we-won-t-sit-idly-by-rwanda-warns-drc-against-repetitive-provocations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/we-won-t-sit-idly-by-rwanda-warns-drc-against-repetitive-provocations\/","title":{"rendered":"‘We won’t sit idly by’ – Rwanda warns DRC against repetitive provocations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Minister Biruta made the revelation on Tuesday 31st May 2022 during a press conference on the current situation of deteriorating relations with DRC. <\/p>\n

The press conference has been held amidst ongoing tension between Rwanda and DRC, where the latter accuses Rwanda of supporting M23 rebel outfit in clashes with Congolese Army (FARDC). Rwanda has however been maintaining that the allegations \u2018are baseless\u2019 and accused DRC of working with the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR). <\/p>\n

Minister Biruta has said that Congolese Army first shelled Rwandan territory on 19th March 2022. At the time, the projectiles did not injure anyone. <\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, the recent incident on 23rd May 2022 saw several projectiles shelled on Rwandan territory in Burera and Musanze, destroying houses and injuring people,\u201d he noted. <\/p>\n

Minister Biruta said that he called his counterpart of DRC inquiring into what happened, but did neither apologize to Rwanda nor reassure that it won\u2019t happen again. <\/p>\n

Apart from shelling on Rwandan territory, DRC in collaboration with FDLR was recently reported to have kidnaped two Rwandan soldiers on patrol. <\/p>\n

FDLR is rebel outfit comprised of remnant masterminds of the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi who at different times plotted hit-and-run attacks to Rwanda and repelled back.<\/p>\n

Minister Biruta has talked about Rwanda\u2019s possible reaction in case DRC\u2019s provocations linger. He also disclosed that Rwanda won\u2019t fold arms if DRC doesn\u2019t stop its provocations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have responsibilities to protect our citizens and country\u2019s borderlines. A country defends itself against attacks. This means, if the issue persists, we cannot idly sit by and wait for repetitive shelling on our citizens every day or provocations to kidnap people anytime. It is among issues pointed out at the African Union Summit in Malabo. I clearly indicated that we have legitimacy to respond and defend ourselves, in case we are attacked,\u201d he noted. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe want such provocations to stop. We want these soldiers released. However, in case these attacks continue to threaten our country\u2019s security, we would be legitimate to defend ourselves and you know that we have capacity,\u201d Minister Biruta added. <\/p>\n

The Deputy Spokesperson of the Government of Rwanda, Alain Mukuralinda has said that clashes with M23 rebel group is DRC\u2019s internal matter that might continue to affect the country if no solution is reached.<\/p>\n

\"Rwanda<\/figure>\n
\"Minister<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

{The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Vincent Biruta has said that Rwanda is ready to protect its citizens in case the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) does not halt provocations.}<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[72,75],"byline":[160],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-45907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-featured-news-home","tag-homenews","byline-theophile-niyitegeka"],"bylines":[{"id":160,"name":"Th\u00e9ophile Niyitegeka","slug":"theophile-niyitegeka","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":3}],"contributors":[{"id":160,"name":"Th\u00e9ophile Niyitegeka","slug":"theophile-niyitegeka","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":3}],"featured_image":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45907\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45907"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=45907"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=45907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}