GOMA, DR Congo, Oct. 18 — The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) accused the Rwandan forces of “incursion” into six villages in northeastern DRC on Monday morning, a spokesman of DRC’s armed forces (FARDC) said.
“There has been an incursion since Monday morning of the Rwandan forces in Kibumba”, in DRC’s northeastern border province of North Kivu, said North Kivu army spokesman Guillaume Njike.
Exchanges of fire took place between the FARDC and elements of the Rwandan Defense Forces (RDF), according to the spokesman.
“The Rwandan military occupied six villages this morning on the Congolese territory before being forced to turn back, thanks to the arrival of reinforcements from our soldiers on the spot,” the Njike added.
The DRC will officially seize the Expanded Joint Verification Mechanism (EJVM), a system set up in 2021 by the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) to monitor regional security incidents.
“It is in front of this structure (EJVM) that the Rwandan army will be able to present the reason for its presence this Monday in the DRC,” said Njike.
The Rwandan army has not yet officially made any response on the cause of this incident.
There have been border skirmishes between DR Congo and Rwanda over the years. – XINHUA
