The UK government has finally condemned “external support” given to M23 rebels who are gang-raping and slaughtering their way across eastern DR Congo, after a damning new UN report that sets out Rwanda’s “direct interventions” in support of the group. Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame has repeatedly denied supporting the M23 combatants as a proxy to control Congo’s vast mineral wealth. But the report names several key Rwanda Defence Force commanders directly coordinating operations in the DRC, including General James Kabarebe, Kagame’s current Defence and Security Adviser. M23, which first arose a decade ago, reappeared last year with new state-of-the-art weaponry. A million people have been displaced since the fighting began. The US and EU have explicitly condemned Kigali for supporting M23 but up to now the UK, which has sent £140 million to Rwanda to take its asylum seekers, has been silent.
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