Rwanda has expressed concerns of the continued illegal detention of its citizens in the DR Congo, parading them before the media and falsely branding them as ‘spies’ - an accusation Rwanda says signals alarming escalation of public incitement
In reference to two Rwandan citizens who were arrested in August accused of being Rwandan spies by Congolese intelligence services, a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, dismissed the allegations, saying they amounted to "a truly alarming escalation in xenophobia and public incitement.”
Two Rwandan nationals, Dr Juvenal Nshimiyimana and Moses Mushabe, both staff of African Health Development Organisation, a Geneva-based non-profit organisation, have spent months in the custody of the Congolese National Intelligence Agency (ANR).
Nshimiyimana is the country director of AHDO in DR Congo. He previously served as the acting country director of UNAIDS. Mushabe is the provincial head of AHDO in Tshikapa, in Kasai Province.
Mushabe is reported to be seriously ill and in need of medical attention.
Earlier this week, the Congolese government paraded four men, including Nshimiyimana and Mushabe, accused of being Rwandan spies and of having "infiltrated” the Congolese armed forces and the ruling class.
"Just days after the UN Group of Experts identified a troubling rise in ethnic violence and hate speech directed against Rwandans, Rwandophones, and the Congolese Tutsi community by DRC officials, military officers and civil society leaders, this week’s press briefing by DRC’s Deputy Interior Minister Jean-Claude Molipe Mandongo represents a truly alarming escalation in xenophobia and public incitement to violence,” reads the statement.
"This parading of alleged "spies" is straight from a playbook that we recognise all too well. Leaders unable or unwilling to account for their own failures will seek to fuel ethnic divisions and point the finger at sinister outside forces. Nobody in the Great Lakes Region is under any illusion as to where this leads or how great the toll.”
The statement added that in an ominous reference to the Genocide in Rwanda, officials at Tuesday’s press briefing accused the Rwandan detainees of planning to shoot down a plane carrying the Congolese President and also alluded to further arrests of more people linked to the African Health Development Organisation – "a deliberate attempt to further inflame Congolese public opinion.”
"We urge leaders in the DRC to deescalate the hateful rhetoric and turn back from the path they seem to be choosing. The international community, including those who insist on coddling the DRC leaders, should take note and hold DRC officials accountable for this escalation.”
The Ministry said it had, in two notes verbales of November 4 and December 7, formally protested the arbitrary arrest and detention of several Rwandan citizens in the DRC and requested their unconditional release.
Rwanda’s relations with DR Congo soured this year after Kinshasa accused Kigali of supporting the M23 rebels. Rwanda dismissed the allegations.
Diplomatic tensions worsened in October when Rwanda’s envoy to Kinshasa was expelled.
The Rwandan government has accused DR Congo of collaborating with the FDLR militia, remnants of the perpetrators of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, in shelling on Rwandan territory. In the last such incident, two rockets from DR Congo landed in Kinigi Sector, Musanze District on June 10.
Most recently, a Congolese warplane on December 28 violated Rwanda’s airspace – the second such incident after a Sukhoi-25 fighter jet briefly landed at Rubavu airport, on November 7.
Kigali has said the "repeated violations” are against regional peace efforts to normalise the two countries’ relations.