Rwanda denies U.S. allegations about camp bombing in DR Congo: summary

What we know

• Rwanda has denied bombing accusations by the United States (U.S.). The U.S. alleged that Rwanda’s forces attacked an internally displaced people’s (IDP)camp at Goma in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
• At least sixteen persons including children were killed in the bombing and thirty others were injured when mortars hit displacement camps, Lac Vert and Mugunga IDP camps on May 3.
• According to the U.S. State Department, the attack was mounted from positions held by the Rwandan Defence Forces (RDF) and the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group.
• The U.S. also strongly condemned the attack, expressing grave concern about “the recent RDF and M23 expansion” in Eastern DRC.
• The Rwandan government has blamed the incident on militias which it said were supported by the Congolese military and called for investigations into the issue.

What they said

The government of Rwanda in a statement said they will “not shoulder responsibility for the loss of lives in the IDP camps around Goma or the security and governance failures of the government of the DRC”. It further called for “credible investigation and verification to be completed first, to establish what really happened”. Meanwhile, Rwandan government spokesperson Yolande Makolo in a social media post described the allegations as ridiculous. “The RDF, a professional army, would never attack an IDP camp. Look to the lawless FDLR & Wazalendo supported by the FARDC, for this kind of atrocity,” she wrote.