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Rwanda backed Congo uprising, experts tell UN
By David Lewis
KINSHASA, July 16 (Reuters)
Rwanda recruited, trained and sheltered renegade soldiers who staged a mutiny in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo last month, offering them mobile phones and cash, according to a draft U.N.-commissioned report.
Rwandan officials rounded up potential fighters in the border town of Cyangugu and promised them phones or $100 to fight with forces loyal to Colonel Jules Mutebutsi and General Laurent Nkunda, said the draft seen by Reuters on Friday.
"The group of experts concluded that Rwanda's violations involved direct and indirect support, both in the Democratic Republic of Congo and in Rwanda, to the mutinous troops of Jules Mutebutsi and Laurent Nkunda," it said.
"Rwanda has also exerted a degree of command and control over Mutebutsi's forces."
The report was prepared by a panel of security and customs experts for a U.N. Security Council committee monitoring an arms embargo on eastern Congo.
The Rwandan army rejected as "outrageous" the charges that it had assisted Mutebutsi and Nkunda, who briefly seized the strategic eastern town of Bukavu last month.
The renegade officers belong to RCD-Goma, a former rebel group backed by Rwanda during Congo's five-year war. Some rebels were assimilated into the army after the war.
The crisis in Bukavu triggered fears of a new war in Africa's Great Lakes region, with Congo accusing Rwanda of backing the dissidents and Rwanda denying any such links.
DISARMED OR DANGEROUS?
Contrary to Rwanda's claims, its army had not disarmed Mutebutsi's troops after the revolt but offered them refuge, the report said.
"Approximately 300 of them, in uniform, remained in a coherent command structure, under the protection of Rwandan troops. The group concludes that these troops remain a latent threat to the DRC," it concluded after visiting Cyangugu.
Rwandan forces had also maintained "semi-fixed positions" in remote parts of Congo's North Kivu province, the report said, citing satellite images of fixed heavy weapons encasements and discussions with sources in both countries.
It also said trucks had been seen ferrying weapons to Congo through Rwandan and Ugandan border posts and cited weapon serial numbers as well as details of transit dates and routes.
A Rwandan army spokesman insisted Mutebutsi and his men had been disarmed and U.N. observers were welcome to check on them.
"This report is just fanning conflict in the region," said Colonel Patrick Karegeya. "I don't think this report is credible. If it wanted to be credible, they should have brought these allegations and satellite images and showed them to us."
Tiny Rwanda has invaded its neighbour twice in the past eight years, saying it had an obligation to hunt down Hutu rebels who took part in the country's 1994 genocide.
Congo moved some 13,000 reinforcements to the border region after the Bukavu insurgency.
Its army has clashed with Nkunda's forces in recent days, U.N. and military sources say, and civilians are reported to be fleeing as some 2,000 government soldiers advance.
Congo has repeatedly said it plans an offensive against Nkunda, diplomats and U.N. officials say. It was unclear whether the latest violence marked
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