EDITORIAL: EJVM should get to the bottom of renewed DR Congo shelling

In an act that is reminiscent of last year’s provocations, a rocket projectile was fired into Bereshi Village, Hehu Cell, Bugeshi Sector in Rubavu District close to the DR Congo border on Tuesday evening. Fortunately, there were no reported casualties, unlike last year’s unprovoked attacks that killed several civilians and left dozens injured in Rubavu District. The Government of Rwanda has called on the Expanded Joint Verification Mechanism (EJVM), a mechanism of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region, to investigate the shelling and The New Times joins it in this request. The timing of the unprovoked attack is suspicious. Is this attack an attempt to provoke some kind of Rwandan reaction? Such a reaction would change the conversations in the political hothouse that is Kinshasa. Furthermore, in less than a few weeks, the January 2, 2015 deadline for FDLR’s surrender will be upon the DR Congo military and the UN forces. Is this attack on Rubavu a ploy to cloud the fact that FDLR is still unmolested and no plans have been made to engage them militarily? We call on the EJVM to not only investigate the latest shelling thoroughly, we also call on them to publicise their findings. No longer should the DR Congo military be allowed to get away, literally, with murder.

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EDITORIAL: EJVM should get to the bottom of renewed DR Congo shelling