One of Britain’s closest African allies has armed and trained members of a   rebel movement responsible for displacing 100,000 people in the Democratic   Republic of Congo, according to the United Nations.

A mutiny in Congo’s national army has caused an upsurge in fighting near the   country’s border with Rwanda   since April. Former rebels led by General Bosco Ntaganda, who has been   indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court, have left their   unit and restarted their insurgency.

Some of Gen Ntaganda’s fighters were recruited in Rwanda, according to an   internal UN report. Eleven deserters said they were Rwandan nationals who   were ostensibly enrolled in their country’s army and given military training   before being ordered over the border into Congo.

There they joined Gen Ntaganda’s rebellion which threatens a new humanitarian   emergency. One of those recruited in Rwanda was a child soldier under the   age of 18. The first was trained as early as February – before the mutiny   began – suggesting that Rwanda may have had a hand in its outbreak.

Rwanda’s regime under President Paul Kagame has a long history of sponsoring   rebel movements in Congo and, on two occasions, mounting a direct invasion   of its giant neighbour. The aim has been to hunt down militias responsible   for the Rwandan genocide of 1994 which claimed 800,000 lives.

But critics say that Rwanda’s interventions have caused great bloodshed while   also securing mining and commercial interests in eastern Congo.

Mr Kagame is close to Andrew Mitchell, the International Development   Secretary, who takes Conservative volunteers to Rwanda every year on “Project   Umubano”, a summer aid scheme. Mr Kagame addressed the Conservative   party conference in 2007 and his country will receive Pounds 80 million of   British aid this year.

The last Rwanda-sponsored rebellion in Congo ended with a peace agreement   incorporating the insurgents into the national army in 2009. “What we   are looking at now is the first stages of the unravelling of that peace deal,”   said a Western analyst working in Congo. “That deal was extremely   significant, and in the same vein, the fact that Rwanda is now seen again to   be supporting another armed group in eastern Congo has to be equally as   significant as a move in the wrong direction.”

Louise Mushikiwabo, the Rwandan foreign minister, denied that her country was   helping Congo’s rebels, describing the UN report as “categorically false”.

Source: The telegraph

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