On Monday, Paul Kagame, the president of Rwanda, stated that the nation could no longer accept refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
Fighting between government forces and rebels from the M23 movement, a former Tusi insurrection, in the eastern DRC has heightened relations with neighboring Rwanda, which the DRC accuses of backing the militia.
Rwanda, however, disputes being involved.
According to the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), in November 2022 Rwanda had some 72,000 Congolese refugees.
In a report published in December, UN-mandated experts said they had collected “substantial evidence” of “direct intervention by the Rwandan Defence Forces (RDF) on the territory of the DRC” at least between November 2021 and October 2022.
Diplomatic initiatives have been launched to try to resolve the crisis in eastern DRC, where an East African regional force, led by Kenya, is being deployed.
