BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany has halted new development aid to Rwanda and is reviewing its existing commitments in response to the African nation’s role in the conflict in neighbouring Congo, the German development ministry said on Tuesday.
“In coordination with partners, Germany will further restrict bilateral cooperation with Rwanda,” said a statement, adding that Berlin had informed Rwanda in advance of the move and urged it to withdraw support for the M23 rebel group, which has made advances in Congo.
According to the ministry, Germany last pledged aid of 93.6 million euros ($98 million) to Rwanda in October 2022 for the period 2022 to 2024.
Rwanda is facing global pressure over allegations it supports the M23 group which, since January, has captured swathes of eastern Congo and valuable mineral deposits.
Their ongoing onslaught is already the gravest escalation of a long-running conflict rooted in the spillover into Congo of Rwanda’s 1994 genocide and the struggle for control of Congo’s vast mineral resources.
Congo, U.N. experts and Western powers accuse Rwanda of backing the group. Rwanda denies this and says it is defending itself against ethnic Hutu-led militias bent on slaughtering Tutsis in Congo and threatening Rwanda.
($1 = 0.9508 euros)
(Reporting by Alexander Ratz and Andreas Rinke; writing by Matthias Williams; Editing by Ludwig Burger)
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