Kigali appoints ambassador to Kinshasa

Rwanda has appointed an ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the first time since the tiny central African nation invaded its vast mineral-rich neighbour in 1996, a senior government official told IRIN on Thursday.

The secretary-general in the Rwandan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Gregoire Karambizi, said his government had nominated Juru Antoine Munyakazi as its envoy to Kinshasa, as part of ongoing efforts to normalise relations with its erstwhile enemy.

"We are trying to heal the old wounds,” Karambizi said.
Alongside Uganda, Rwanda first invaded DRC in 1996 to oust one of the longest-serving African leaders, Mobutu Sese Seko. Rwanda and Uganda again sent their forces into the DRC in August 1998, following a breakdown in relations with their former ally, late DRC President Laurent-Desire Kabila.

Rwandan officials said they were optimistic that Kinshasa would soon open an embassy in Kigali.

"There's now goodwill between the two nations," one official said. "We are working on putting in place all channels aimed at improving our bilateral relations."

However, the official could not confirm when Rwanda's new envoy would arrive in Kinshasa.

In July 2002, Rwanda and DRC reached a peace agreement in Pretoria, South Africa, aimed at ending their hostilities. Kigali agreed to withdraw its troops from eastern DRC, while Kinshasa pledged to flush out Rwandan Hutu rebels throughout the same region.

Rwanda, however, maintains that thousands of the Hutu fighters responsible for the 1994 genocide - in which an estimated 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus died - still remain in the forests of eastern DRC.