Uganda denies Rwandan accusations that its supporting rebels opposing President Paul Kagame and jailing torturing and deporting its citizens.

The love-hate relationship between Uganda and Rwanda –  who share a political, ethnic and security history – destabilizes the Great Lakes Region.

Rwandan leader Paul Kagame fought to bring Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni to power.

Uganda, in turn,  supported Kagame’t Tutsi rebels after the 1994 genocide by Hutus.

Now Uganda’s accused of supporting the Rwanda National Congress led by South African-based Kayumba Nyamwasa and the Hutu rebel group called the Democratic Front For The Liberation of  Rwanda.

Closing two of the three border crossings between the countries has virtually paralysed trade in the region.

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The UN peacekeeping mission in the DRC withdrew its support to the army’s campaign a year ago in protest against the appointment of two generals to lead the offensive who are on a UN list of human rights violators.

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The UN will resume military support for the DRC army in the next few days.

Priority will be given to the army’s campaign against two rebel groups, the Ugandan ADF rebels and Hutu fighters from the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR).

The return of UN military backing to the Congolese army was agreed during UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s visit to Kinshasa last week.

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The UN backed out of a planned joint operation in the Congo this year, saying the two Congolese generals in charge have been involved in massive human rights violations.

Congolese president Joseph Kabila wants the blue helmets’ mission cut dramatically.

UN peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous insists this depends on the security situation and progress against the multiple armed groups in the mineral-rich region.

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The only blue-helmeted unit that has a mandate to operate aggressively to protect the civilian population has a new job in the troubled eastern part of the African giant.

In 2013 South Africa, Tanzania and Malawi constitututed the special intervention brigade fighting and subduing M23 rebels in the eastern DRC.

The South African component comprised two infantry batallions and a squadron of Rooivalk attack helicopters.

They were the first to come under fire in operations that subdued M23.

Now their guns could be turned on former Hutu rebels from Rwanda hiding out in the DRC.

They failed to meet a January 2 deadline to surrender.

The UN Security Council has resolved that all necessary measures must be taken to disarm them.

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So, regional leaders will meet in Angola next week to decide on what steps to take.

Speaking as chairman of SADC’s defence arm, President Jacob Zuma says only 337 rebels from the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda known as the FDLR turned themselves in by last Friday.

That means less than a quarter have complied with the January 2 deadline set by regional leaders.
Zuma says SADC leaders will meet in Angola on January 15 and 16 to decide on how to respond.

He adds the regional body’s ready to play its fullest
part.
Fourteen months ago the Congolese army backed by UN soldiers from South Africa, Tanzania and Malawi forced the surrender of M23, another rebel group in the area.

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Most are still at large, risking action by the Congolese army and United Nations peacekeepers.

Numbering 155, the rebels from the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, known as the FDLR, surrendered to authorities in North Kivu.

The operation bringing them in is designed to restore calm to the eastern DRC.

The FDLR is thought to include between 1,500 and 2,000 fighters, including those suspected of having participated in the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

They are opposed to Rwandan President Paul Kagame’s Tutsi government.

For years they’ve been based in the eastern DRC, where they have been accused of conscripting child soldiers and of brutal attacks against residents, including rapes and murders.

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