UK may halt aid to Rwanda over support for rebel groups in DR Congo

23 Nov 12
‘Credible and compelling’ allegations that the Rwandan government is supporting rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo will be a ‘key factor’ in future decisions to provide UK aid to Rwanda, UK ministers said yesterday.

By Nick Mann | 23 November 2012

‘Credible and compelling’ allegations that the Rwandan government is supporting rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo will be a ‘key factor’ in future decisions to provide UK aid to Rwanda, UK ministers said yesterday.

They were responding to a report by the United Nations Group of Experts, which found the Rwandan government was providing ‘direct military support’ to a rebel group operating in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo. The report, discussed by the UN Security Council this week, also highlighted the Ugandan government’s ‘direct involvement’ with the M23 group, which now controls parts of the DRC.

The UN secretary general’s special representative in the DRC, Roger Meece, told the Security Council that he had received ‘numerous reports’ of targeted summary executions of those who stood in the way of the rebel group.

‘We also continue to receive ongoing reports of widespread recruitment and use of children, unconfirmed cases of sexual violence, and other serious human rights abuses,’ he added. The Security Council called for ‘any and all outside support to the M23 cease immediately’.

In response, the UK Foreign Secretary William Hague and International Development Secretary Justine Greening said any outside support for the M23 was ‘unacceptable’.

In a statement issued yesterday, they said: ‘We judge the overall body of evidence of Rwandan involvement with the M23 in the DRC to be credible and compelling. We will be studying the implications of this report in full, but these allegations will necessarily be a key factor in future aid decisions to the government of Rwanda.’

Greening’s predecessor as international development secretary, Andrew Mitchell, approved a previously suspended £16m aid allocation for Rwanda on his last day in the post in September. The aid had been halted in July after a leaked UN report linked Rwanda’s defence minister to the M23 group.

Earlier this month Mitchell told the UK Parliament’s international development select committee that his decision to allow the aid to be allocated was one made collectively by the government and not the actions of a ‘rogue’ minister.  

Greening is expected to make a decision next month on whether the next tranche of aid for Rwanda, a reported £11m, should go ahead.

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