Kinshasa – US Secretary of State Antony Blinken left the Democratic Republic of Congo on Wednesday as he embarked on the final leg of his African tour, the Congolese presidency said.
Blinken arrived in the DRC’s capital Kinshasa on Tuesday from South Africa, and is due to end his three-nation tour of the continent in Rwanda.
The visit follows hot on the heels of an extensive African tour by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. It also comes amid a spike in tensions between the DRC and its smaller neighbour Rwanda.
Kinshasa blames Rwanda for backing the M23 rebel insurgency in its turbulent east, but Rwanda has repeatedly denied the claims.
In a 131-page report to the UN Security Council seen last week by AFP, experts said Rwandan troops had intervened militarily inside the DRC since at least November.
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Blinken told reporters in Kinshasa on Tuesday evening that the United States had serious concerns about “credible reports” of Rwandan backing of the M23 – and promised that Washington was not “turning a blind eye”.
On Wednesday, according to the US State Department, he met Congolese Prime Minister Sama Lukonde and he discussed fair elections, the environment, combating corruption and “securing supply chains of critical minerals”.
Blinken left the DRC for Rwanda’s capital Kigali late Wednesday afternoon, the US embassy in Kinshasa said.
The Congolese presidency confirmed he had left the country.
Relations between the DRC and Rwanda have been strained since the mass arrival in the eastern DRC of Rwandan Hutus accused of slaughtering Tutsis during the 1994 Rwanda genocide.
Relations began to thaw after DRC President Felix Tshisekedi took office in 2019 but the recent resurgence of M23 violence has reignited tensions.
The M23 is a primarily Congolese Tutsi rebel group, which has made significant advances in eastern Congo in recent months.
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Source: AFP
Picture: Getty Images
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