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- DRC soldiers opened fire at the border with Rwanda, the RDF claims.
- Rwanda repelled the attack and no casualties were recorded.
- Presidents Kagame and Tshisekedi are due for a mini-summit on the sidelines of the AU Summit this Friday.
The Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) claims to have repelled a dawn attack by more than 10 Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC) on Wednesday morning.
This latest clash between Rwanda and DRC happened several days before the expected meeting of Rwandan President Paul Kagame and DRC President Felix Tshisekedi in Addis Ababa on Friday as part of a mini-summit.
The meeting is being organised by Angolan President João Lourenço, the mediator appointed by the African Union to maintain dialogue between Kinshasa and Kigali.
The RDF claimed in a statement that the surprise attack had occurred in the "no-man's land" at the border between Rwanda and DRC around 4:30 in the morning.
"FARDC forces, estimated to be about one section (12 to 14 soldiers), entered the no-man's land between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) bordering Rusizi District in Western Province, and opened fire at our border post."
Rwandan troops had fought off the attack, and no casualties had been recorded, the RDF added.
"Our security forces responded, and FARDC soldiers withdrew. There were no casualties on the Rwanda side, and the situation is calm."
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The DRC government or military were yet to respond to the allegations. As with all provocations between the two armies since last year, the matter was referred to the Expanded Joint Verification Mechanism and the Ad Hoq Verification Mechanism.
The mechanism headed by Angolan Lieutenant-General Nassone João was created for the "pacification" of the eastern region of the DRC.
It was adopted in July 2022 by the "Tripartite Summit" of Angola, DRC and Rwanda, in the framework of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region.
The News24 Africa Desk is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation. The stories produced through the Africa Desk and the opinions and statements that may be contained herein do not reflect those of the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
