Kigali requests third party verification mechanism

The Rwandan government has officially requested the presences of a third party verification mechanism, consisting of UN and African Union (AU) officials, to help resolve tensions with the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Rwandan Foreign Minister Charles Murigande made the announcement following talks between President Paul Kagame and an AU delegation led by the chairman of the AU Peace and Security Council, Ambassador Mame Balla Sy.

Rwanda's move follows recent accusations by Congolese President Joseph Kabila that Rwanda was directly involved in a week-long occupation of the eastern town of Bukavu by dissident soldiers, an accusation Rwanda has denied.

Dissident Congolese soldiers, led by Gen Laurent Nkunda and Col Jules Mutebutsi, invaded Bukavu on 26 May. They withdrew from the town on 8 June and loyalist troops re-entered Bukavu a day later.

On 6 June, Rwanda said it had closed its border with the DRC, pending the establishment of a UN and AU mission to "expeditiously investigate" Kabila's allegations.

At the same time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement saying Rwandan "armed forces were not in any way" involved in the fall of Bukavu. "The officers and soldiers involved in the events in Bukavu were all Congolese and the government of the DRC is challenged to prove otherwise," the ministry said.

A five-year civil war ended in the DRC in 2002 but the east of the country has remained volatile with different militia groups fighting for control in the northeastern district of Ituri, Orientale Province.

The eastern provinces of North and South Kivu, previously the stronghold of a Rwandan-backed former rebel group, have also remained volatile despite the installation of a government of national unity in June 2003.

Foreign troops, including those of Rwanda and Uganda, which had entered the DRC during the civil war, signed a ceasefire agreement in the Zambian capital, Lusaka, in 1999, committing themselves to withdrawing from the country. By 2002, most of the foreign troops had left DRC.

The Lusaka agreement also stipulated that UN and AU observers be deployed in the DRC with the responsibility of "verification, control and monitoring of the cessation of hostilities".