Rwandan army has again accused the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) government of not being supportive in flashing out the Interahamwe rebels hiding in the vast central African nation.
Major General Alex Kagame, a Division Commander in the Rwandan Defense Forces (RDF), says Uganda and Rwanda are enjoying cordial and good border relations but noted that the major problem still lies at the DRC border.
Major General Kagame was speaking in Mbarara on Thursday, shortly after a closed-door security meeting with senior Ugandan army officers led by 2nd Division Commander, Brigadier Patrick Kankiriho.
Major General Kagame continued to deny reports that Rwanda was supporting the M23 rebels that have been destabilizing the DRC government since April this year.
He instead accused DRC of providing sanctuary to Interahamwe and other rebel groups who took part in the 1994 Rwandan Genocide that left up to 800,000 people dead and continue to destabilize peace at the two borders.
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Kagame led a team of RDF officers to Uganda’s 2nd Division Headquarters in Mbarara, where they signed a document to jointly address cross border concerns. The document was signed after joint border intelligence information sharing between RDF and the Uganda People’s Defense Forces (UPDF).
The Rwandan team included Col. Peter Kalimba, in charge of operations and training in RDF officer, Lt. Col. David Murenzi, a battalion commander and Col. James Burabyo, the defense attaché in Uganda.
The Ugandan team included Col. Peter Elwelu, 2nd Division operations commander, and brigade commanders within the division.
In the document, the two armies agreed to meet every four months to look into security matters along the common borders.
Brigadier Kankiriho says the intelligence information-sharing is to address threats to the security of the two countries.
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Captain Peter Mugisa, the 2nd Division army spokesperson, says Rwanda and Uganda are faced with a challenge of tackling illegal immigrants entering the two countries, the DRC conflict and the threat of terrorism among others.
In July, the DRC government accused Rwanda of invading its volatile Eastern border area, portraying M23 rebel insurgency as being supported, trained and funded by the Rwandan military. This followed a rebel advance that overrun two border towns of Bunagana and Rutshuru, sending up to 700 Congolese government forces fleeing across the border to Uganda.
In June, DRC President Joseph Kabila told reporters in Kinshasa that Rwanda's support for M23 was an open secret and that his government would investigate accusations that Uganda also backs the rebels.
The Kigali government has consistently denied allegations by DRC and United Nations investigators that it is fomenting and supporting the Tutsi-dominated M23 rebel movement in Congo's mineral-rich North Kivu province.
Early in August, regional leaders met in Uganda's capital for a summit aimed at easing the tension in Congo. Regional leaders resolved to work together to end the violence in Eastern DR Congo. The summit established that the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region "shall work with the AU and the U.N. for an immediate establishment of a neutral international force to eradicate" the rebellion in Congo.
The meeting in Kampala followed a similar one in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in June.
