M23 rebels sit on a truck at the Goma-Gisenyi Grande Barrier border crossing, between Rwanda and The Democratic Republic of Congo, on March 1.Arlette Bashizi/Reuters
Canada has announced its first steps against Rwanda, including restrictions on exports, in response to the African country’s role in sending thousands of troops into eastern Congo and supporting a rebel takeover of the region.
The federal government said Monday that it will suspend permits for the export of Canadian-controlled goods and technologies to Rwanda. Ottawa will also suspend government business deals with Rwanda, halt support for trade missions and other private-sector initiatives, and review Canada’s participation in international events in the country.
The moves are in response to Rwanda’s military support for the M23 militia, which has captured a huge swath of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, including the eastern cities of Goma and Bukavu. The rebel offensive has caused thousands of deaths and forced millions of people from their homes, triggering a humanitarian disaster in the region.
“Canada denounces the widespread atrocities in eastern DRC, including allegations of unlawful attacks on civilians, internally displaced persons, humanitarian actors, and both UN and regional peacekeepers, as well as massacres and kidnappings,” says a statement by Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly, Development Minister Ahmed Hussen and Trade Minister Mary Ng.
The ministers said they condemn “the presence of the Rwanda Defence Force in the DRC and its support for the M23, which constitute flagrant violations of the DRC’s territorial integrity and sovereignty and of the United Nations Charter.”
The federal government also summoned the Rwandan High Commissioner in Ottawa to deliver the message directly to him, telling him that Canada is opposed to Rwanda’s “clear violation of DRC’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the ministers said.
Reports by UN experts concluded that Rwanda sent as many as 4,000 troops across its border into eastern Congo, along with an arsenal of sophisticated weaponry, to boost M23’s military offensive.
Canada is the latest of many countries to take action against Rwanda, but most other Western governments have taken stronger action. Britain, for example, announced it would suspend its direct bilateral aid to the Rwandan government, halt any future defence training assistance and co-ordinate possible sanctions against Rwanda. None of these steps were included in Canada’s decision.
The European Union also announced action against Rwanda last week, while the United States imposed sanctions on Rwanda’s former military chief, James Kabarebe, a powerful ally of President Paul Kagame.
Ms. Joly said in an interview with The Globe and Mail last month that Canada was trying to co-ordinate its response with other governments: “For peace to be back in DRC, we need to be able to apply pressure,” she said.
More than a month after M23’s capture of Goma, there continue to be reports of human-rights abuses by the Rwandan-backed militia, including alleged executions and kidnappings.
The UN human-rights office said on Monday that the militia had abducted at least 130 sick and wounded patients from two hospitals in Goma, claiming the patients were Congolese soldiers or their allies.
“It is deeply distressing that M23 is snatching patients from hospital beds in coordinated raids and holding them incommunicado in undisclosed locations,” UN human-rights spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said in a statement.