Translation. Region: Russian Federal
Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
Kigali, June 8 (Xinhua) — Rwanda on Saturday announced its withdrawal from the Economic Community of Central African States (ECOCAC), accusing its neighbor the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) of “instrumentalizing” the bloc with the support of some of its member states.
This statement was made following the 26th ECOCAS summit, which took place in the capital of Equatorial Guinea, Malabo, and was attended by Rwandan Prime Minister Edouard Ngirente.
As Rwanda’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation stated, the purpose of ECOCAS was clearly distorted at the summit, as “Rwanda’s right to assume the rotating chairmanship of the bloc… was deliberately ignored in order to impose a dictate on the DRC.”
The statement also condemned the “illegal exclusion of Rwanda” from the 22nd ECOCAS summit, which was held in 2023 in the DRC capital Kinshasa under the DRC presidency. Rwanda criticized ECOCAS for “failing to enforce its own rules.”
“Rwanda condemns the violation of its rights,” the statement said. “Therefore, Rwanda sees no reason to remain a member of an organization whose current functioning is contrary to its founding principles and the original purposes for which it was created.”
Early Sunday morning, the DRC presidency issued a press release stating that due to the current security situation in the east of the country, ECOCAS leaders confirmed that “the DRC is under aggression from Rwanda” and called on it to withdraw its troops from DRC territory.
Regarding the rotating presidency of ECOCAS, the summit participants recommended that Equatorial Guinea continue to chair the bloc, while the transfer of powers to Rwanda be postponed until the dispute between it and the DRC is resolved.
ECOCAS has not yet commented on the decision to withdraw announced by the Rwandan authorities.
Rwanda’s decision comes amid heightened tensions between it and the DRC over the conflict in eastern DRC.
The DRC accuses Rwanda of supporting the rebel group Movement of March 23 (M23) fighting in eastern DRC. Rwanda has denied the charge. –0–