Rwanda has said it would withdraw from the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), underscoring diplomatic tensions in the region over an\u00a0offensive this year\u00a0by Rwanda-backed M23 rebels in eastern Congo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kigali had expected to assume the chairmanship of the 11-member bloc at a meeting on Saturday in Equatorial Guinea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Instead, the bloc kept Equatorial Guinea in the role, which Rwanda’s foreign ministry denounced as a violation of its rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rwanda, in a statement, condemned Congo’s “instrumentalization” of the bloc and saw “no justification for remaining in an organization whose current functioning runs counter to its founding principles.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It wasn’t clear if Rwanda’s exit from the bloc would take immediate effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The office of Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi said in a statement that ECCAS members had “acknowledged the aggression against the Democratic Republic of Congo by Rwanda and ordered the aggressor country to withdraw its troops from Congolese soil.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
M23 seized eastern Congo’s\u00a0two largest cities\u00a0earlier this year, with the advance leaving thousands dead and raising concerns of an\u00a0all-out regional war. African leaders along with Washington and Doha have been trying to broker a peace deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Congo, the U.N. and Western powers accuse Rwanda of supporting M23 by sending troops and weapons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rwanda has long denied helping M23, saying its forces were acting in self-defence against Congo’s army and ethnic Hutu militiamen linked to the\u00a01994 Rwandan genocide\u00a0that killed around 1 million people, mostly ethnic Tutsis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration hopes to strike a peace accord between Congo and Rwanda that would also facilitate billions in Western investment in the region, which is rich in minerals including tantalum, gold, cobalt, copper and lithium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
ECCAS was established in the 1980s to foster cooperation in areas like security and economic affairs among its member states.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Rwanda has said it would withdraw from the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), underscoring diplomatic tensions in the region over an\u00a0offensive this year\u00a0by Rwanda-backed M23 rebels in eastern Congo. Kigali had expected to assume the chairmanship of the 11-member bloc at a meeting on Saturday in Equatorial Guinea. Instead, the bloc kept Equatorial […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40584,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[248,15],"tags":[7,249,25],"class_list":{"0":"post-40597","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"category-politics","9":"tag-apie-project","10":"tag-economy","11":"tag-politics"},"yoast_head":"\n