DR.Congo: USA Holds Rebels And Rwanda Accountable For The Fatal Camp Attack.

The US has placed the responsibility for the fatal bombing of a displacement camp in the Democratic Republic of Congo on the M23 rebel group and the Rwandan army. Seven children were among the nine persons who lost their lives in Friday’s attack on the Mugunga camp in the eastern city of Goma. M23 and the Congolese army each claimed responsibility for the attack.

Rwanda, which shares DR Congo’s border, has been widely charged with providing support to the rebel organization; the US has dismissed this assertion as “ridiculous”. The Rwanda Defence Force (RDF), according to spokeswoman for the Rwandan government Yolande Makalo, is a professional force that would never attack an internally displaced person’s (IDP) camp.

According to the US State Department, the RDF and the M23 group held positions from which Friday’s attack originated. The United States of America is “gravely concerned about the recent RDF and M23 expansion” in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, a spokeswoman said. The spokesperson urged both sides to “respect human rights and adhere to applicable obligations under international humanitarian law”.

“It is essential that all states respect each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and hold accountable all actors for human rights abuses in the conflict in eastern DR Congo,” they stated. On Friday, there were pictures of bodies at the camp laying on the ground going viral on social media. The majority of the inhabitants had left to avoid hostilities in their hometowns and villages.

A spokesman for the DR Congo’s army in the area, Lt Col Guillaume Njike Kaiko, stated that the strike was a reprisal for prior Congolese attacks on Rwandan.