Attacks: We’ll retaliate – Rwanda Minister, Biruta issues warning to Congo

Rwanda’s Foreign Ministry has said the nation would fight back if it suffers further attacks from the neighbouring country, the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Foreign Minister, Vincent Biruta, told reporters on Wednesday after accusing Congo of firing shells across the border in May this year.

“If attacks continue, we will not sit idly by, Rwanda will have the right to respond to protect the security of the country, to protect the security of its citizens, and we’ve the means to do that,” Biruta said as quoted by NAN.

Congo had summoned Rwanda’s ambassador and suspended RwandAir flights to Congo last weekend in response to what it said was Kigali’s support for M23 rebels carrying out a military offensive in its eastern borderlands.

Rwanda, however, denied the claims and has, in turn, accused Congo’s army of fighting alongside the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), an armed group founded by ethnic Hutus who fled Rwanda after partaking in the 1994 genocide.

The clashes threaten to unravel relations between both countries, which had improved since Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi came to power three years ago.

The M23 insurgency stems from the long fallout of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda