UN Security Council to vote on text clearly condemning Rwanda

The UN Security Council will take up Friday a text which for the first time directly condemns Rwanda for its support of the M23 armed group's offensive in the Democratic Republic of Congo and demands its "immediate" withdrawal.

A draft resolution seen by AFP "strongly condemns the ongoing offensive and advances of the M23 in North-Kivu and South Kivu with the support of Rwanda Defense Forces."

The M23 group now controls large swaths of eastern DRC, a region rich in natural resources.  Its rapid advance has sent thousands fleeing the area and fueled fears of a regional conflagration.

The draft text says M23 "shall immediately cease hostilities, withdraw from Goma, Bukavu and all controlled areas... and fully reverse the establishment of illegitimate parallel administrations in the DRC territory."

The Security Council had previously called for an "immediate and unconditional ceasefire" by all parties.

But the current draft for the first time points its finger clearly at Rwanda, calling "on the Rwanda Defense Forces to cease support to the M23 and immediately withdraw from DRC territory without preconditions."

In an emergency session in late January as the M23 pursued its offensive, the Security Council limited itself to denouncing the "flagrant disregard for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the DRC," and called in a statement for the withdrawal of "external forces," without naming them.

Kinshasa dismissed that declaration as overly "vague."

African reaction

Against that backdrop, France late last month launched negotiations aimed at resolving the crisis. But those talks were slowed by the reluctance of the African countries holding rotating Security Council seats -- Somalia, Sierra Leone and Algeria -- to clearly single out Kigali, diplomatic sources say.

Rwanda's role has been publicly denounced by the great majority of Council members, including China, which joined their number in recent weeks.

In a joint declaration Wednesday, the three African countries denounced M23 and its territorial expansion, saying it "threatens the sovereignty of the DRC and undermines the possibility of dialogue," but they did not single out Rwanda.

The DRC foreign minister, Therese Kayikwamba Wagner, then called on the three African nations to make their position explicit and urged the Council to stop serving as a "silent witness to an unfolding tragedy."

Kinshasa has also called for the Council to impose individual sanctions on certain Rwandan political and military leaders and to place an embargo on exports of natural resources from Rwanda.

The draft text being reviewed today, however, is much more measured on the question of new sanctions. It raises the possibility of considering "additional measures... against those who contribute to the continuation of the conflict in the eastern DRC."

The text also "condemns the systematic illicit exploitation and trafficking of natural resources in eastern DRC," and "calls for renewed efforts to restrict illegal labeling and ensure the transparency and traceability of mineral exports."

Senior UN officials have repeatedly warned that the current conflict could spread dangerously through the region.

Notably, there are fears of a repetition of the so-called Second Congo War (1998-2003), which drew in several African countries and led to millions of deaths, either through violence, disease or famine.