Rwanda: UN secretary-general urges restraint amid tensions with Congo

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon has appealed to the President of Rwanda Paul Kagame, urging for restraint amid rising tensions with neighboring DR Congo. Mr Ban spoke to President Kagame after Rwanda accused the Democratic Republic of Congo of deliberately bombing its territory, with Rwandan Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo claiming 13 "bombs and rockets" were fired into the country on Wednesday, and ten more on Thursday. She accused DR Congo forces of targeting Rwandan civilians and said: "We have remained restrained for as long as we can but this provocation can no longer be tolerated." Speaking to the British Broadcasting Corporation, a Congolese army spokesperson said that his forces would never fire at civilian populations, saying: "That could only be rebels" - meaning the M23 rebel group. This claim was backed-up by Ban Ki-Moon's assistant, Edmund Mulet, who told the UN security council that UN forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo had witnessed M23 rebels firing artillery into Rwanda, and not the Congolese army. The DR Congo and the UN both accuse Rwanda of backing the M23 rebels, something it denies. The UN peacekeeping mission in DR Congo recently deployed a new 3,000-personell intervention brigade to tackle the rebels, who have forced 800,000 people to flee their homes in Congo since the M23 launched its rebellion in April 2012.