The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Rwanda have been at odds for some time now, ever since a rebel offensive in the eastern DRC, and the latest incident occurred on Tuesday (Jan. 23), when Rwanda accused a fighter plane from the DRC of violating its airspace. Kinshasa denied the accusation.
Yolande Makolo, a spokeswoman for the Rwandan government, said in a statement sent to AFP that on Tuesday “at 17:03, a Sukhoi-25 from the Democratic Republic of the Congo violated the Rwandan airspace for the third time” in the Rubavu district, across from the city of Goma. She continued, “Defensive measures have been taken,” without providing any additional information.
She concluded, “Rwanda wants the DRC to stop this violence.
The DRC government denied that the plane had flown over Rwandan airspace in a statement released that same evening in Kinshasa by the Ministry of Communication, and it denounced “the attack” on the plane by the Rwandan army as “a planned act of aggression that amounts to an act of war.”
In November and December, Rwanda had previously charged Congolese military jets with invading its airspace.
A huge blast was heard Tuesday afternoon in Goma, in eastern DRC, by AFP journalists, followed by two shots and the passing of a Congolese army Sukhoi jet.
Witnesses said that only one shot appeared to have struck the Congolese airliner, which managed to touch down on the runway at Goma airport.
In Goma, the shooting sparked fear.
Kinshasa said that “the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo firmly denounces and condemns the attack against one of its Sukhoi-25 planes by the Rwandan army.”
