SW News: In Central Africa, ties between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda are getting strained as the former is accusing the latter of interfering in its sovereign matters.

The DRC is blaming Rwanda for supporting the M23 rebellion in the eastern part of the country. President Felix Tshisekedi urged young citizens to form vigilante groups and take up arms against the M23 rebels. The head of state said that Kigali has “expansionist tendencies with the main interest in the appropriation of our minerals”. He made this accusation in a message to the nation on television.

He said the neighboring country was trying to create anarchy in the eastern part of the DRC and added that the diplomatic means to solve the issue have failed. The president’s appeal to the youth to take up arms vindicate claims by Human Rights Watch which had reported that some army units of Congo sought the help of armed gangs accused of gross rights violations to fight the M23 rebels.

"Some Congolese army units are again resorting to the squalid practice of seeking the cooperation of certain armed groups, often responsible for serious violations of human rights", the report said. "The Congolese government must put an end to this collaboration, which is in fact an expression of the army's complicity with the armed groups and of its involvement in the violence they commit. The government should therefore identify the agents involved in order that they can be held responsible for their behavior.”

It was in 2013 that the M23 guerrillas inked a ceasefire with Kinshasa. However, the truce has been violated with the rebels taking up arms once again. Since October 20, the rebels have gained control over several localities in Rutshuru along a pivotal highway that links the area with Goma, the capital of North Kivu Province.