Rwanda said it is withdrawing from the Central African regional bloc after just participating in the conflict in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The country was supposed to serve as chairman of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), which spins between its 11 members.
But this was blocked at a meeting in Equatorial Guinea on Saturday.
Announce its decision to leave ECCASRwanda said that the occupation of “the Chairman…in order to impose the rights of Diktat in the Democratic Republic of the Congo…was intentionally ignored”.
As a result, it “considered that the current function had no reason to be an organization that ran against its creation principles and intended purposes.”
As efforts to end the battle of the Congo Doctor continue. Following the U.S. mediation, Rwanda and the Congo doctorate are developing a draft peace plan that is expected to be signed later this month.
According to the statement of the President of the CongoleseECCAS leaders “recognized Rwanda’s aggression against the Democratic Republic of the Congo and ordered the invading states to withdraw their troops from the Congo soil”.
It added that it was decided that Equatorial Guinea would continue to serve as chairman “injuring Rwanda” before resolving the dispute.
In comments on Rwanda“People cannot continually voluntarily violate the foundations of our regional institutions and claim to preside over their principles”, said Congolese government spokesman Patrick Muyaya.
He added that the ECCAS decision “should inspire other regional organizations to take a firmer stance on Rwanda”.
Rwanda is accused of supporting the M23 rebels in the east of the Congo Doctor. The organization made significant progress early this year, occupying major regional cities in Goma and Bukaf.
The Congo’s government, as well as the United States and France, both believe that Rwanda supports M23.
Last year, a report from UN experts said as many as 4,000 Rwandan troops fought with the rebels.
But Rwanda denied the allegations that its troops were deployed along its borders to prevent conflict from spreading to its territory.
Rwanda previously left ECCA in 2007 with a mission to promote and strengthen regional integration in the Central African region. A few years later, it rejoined.
Other reports by Emery Makumeno
