Rwanda refutes Congo's mass grave claims

Xinhua News Agency
 

KIGALI, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- Rwanda Wednesday refuted claims by the Congolese army that two mass graves recently discovered in Rutshuru, north of Congo buried bodies of Congolese massacred by the Rwandan army in 1996.

Speaking to journalists, Rwandan special envoy to the Great Lakes Region Richard Sezibera dismissed the allegations by the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), saying they were unfounded and baseless.

"That is totally a fabrication. Rwandan army has never been in the DRC to murder people. Besides, how can you simply come to a conclusion that the bodies were of Congolese, I don't seem to understand this and the Congolese Army need to stop such allegations," he warned.

Sezibera's reaction follows allegations in the media made by the Congolese Fifth Brigade Commander Col. Jean-Marie Shekasikila that dozens of human skulls, bones and body tissue, exhumed from mass graves in Rutshuru since mid-September were of Congolese killed by Rwanda-backed militia a decade ago.

Both armies of Rwanda and neighboring Uganda have entered Congo to route out rebels but Rwandan rebels remain there and have been urged to disarm voluntarily by the Kinshasa government and the UN mission in Congo.