NEW YORK: The United States on Tuesday expressed serious concern over rising tensions between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda at the United Nations.
The United Nations, Kinshasa and Western nations accuse Rwanda of supporting a rebel group active in eastern DRC in a bid to control mineral resources in the region, however, Kigali denies the allegations.
After several months of partial peace, intense fighting resumed around the city of Goma, the capital of North Kivu province last month.
An American envoy to the UN, Robert Wood, at an emergency meeting about the DRC said parties to the conflict and other actors in the region should immediately resume diplomatic efforts for a durable peace.
The US diplomat added that Rwanda must pull out its forces from the territory of Congo and immediately remove surface to air missile systems.
After years of inactivity, March 23 Movement again took up arms in late 2021 and since has captured vast areas of North Kivu province.
Since early February, Goma, has been cut off from the Rwanda’s interior parts. A protest was held on Monday in Goma against the inaction of the global community in the face of the rising violence.
The DRC’s military is backed by local armed groups, two foreign private military firms, troops from the Southern African Development Community and the UN peacekeepers.
The UN on Tuesday sought for $2.6 billion in aid for live-saving and protection to 8.7 million people in the area.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in a statement said that more than 25 million people face acute food-shortage while acute malnutrition affects more than 8 million people, mainly children under five years.
