1 day ago
25
Rwanda Sunday announced it was going to withdraw from the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) over tensions with the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The Rwanda-backed M23 armed group seized large swaths of eastern Congo earlier this year, including its two biggest cities, with the offensive having led to a broader war between the two neighbors.
Kigali was expecting to take over the leadership of the 11-member bloc at a meeting on Saturday in Equatorial Guinea.
Instead, the bloc decided to let Equatorial Guinea continue with the role, which Rwanda's foreign ministry decried as a violation of its rights.
Rwanda condemned Congo's "instrumentalization" of the bloc, saying in a statement it saw "no justification for remaining in an organization whose current functioning runs counter to its founding principles."
More to follow...
Edited by: Roshni Majumdar
