Rwanda’s army played a “critical” role alongside the M23 armed group in an offensive in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo early this year that culminated in the capture of two key cities, UN experts say.Rwanda denies providing military support for the M23, but UN experts have long said that the neighbouring country backs the armed group — and said that there was ample evidence that the Rwandan army had played a direct combat role in the recent offensive in eastern DRC.”RDF (Rwandan armed forces) operations were critical to the conquest and occupation of new territories and towns,” the United Nations’ group of experts on the DRC said in a report due to be published in the coming days, of which AFP has obtained a copy.The analysis came after the DRC and Rwanda signed a peace deal on Friday in Washington to end the conflict in eastern Congo, where M23 fighters seized the provincial capitals of Goma and Bukavu in a lightning offensive in January and February.Both countries pledged to pull back support for guerrilla fighters, in a deal that US President Donald Trump hailed as the start of a “new chapter of hope and opportunity” for the region.Mineral-rich eastern DRC has been devastated by conflict for more than three decades, with the violence escalating in recent months as the M23 seized large swathes of territory.The UN expert group said it had obtained photos, videos, drone footage, testimony and intelligence “confirming systematic and massive border incursions by RDF” and the Rwandan army’s “reinforced presence” in the region.The evidence shows “RDF positioning at front lines and direct engagement in combat, and RDF handling of high-tech weaponry”, the report said.It said that a week prior to the attack on Goma, “Rwandan officials confidentially informed the (UN expert group) that (Rwandan) President Paul Kagame had decided to imminently take control of Goma and Bukavu”.- Fragile peace deal -Kagame denies military backing for the M23, but his government says it maintains “defensive measures” because Rwanda is threatened by the presence in eastern DRC of the FDLR, a group founded by ethnic Hutu leaders involved in the 1994 Rwandan genocide of the Tutsis.Rwanda lashed out at the UN experts’ latest findings.The new report “deliberately misrepresents Rwanda’s longstanding security concerns related to the persistent threat of the FDLR and its affiliated groups, which necessitates the defence posture in our border areas,” Rwandan government spokeswoman Yolande Makolo said on X.The latest surge of violence in eastern DRC has killed thousands of people, according to the UN and the Congolese government, and deepened a humanitarian crisis faced by hundreds of thousands forced from their homes.Kagame and Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi are due to meet in Washington in the coming months to solidify the peace deal, signed by their foreign ministers, whose terms have not yet been implemented.
