DRC accuses Europe of 'obvious double standard' over trade deal with Rwanda

The Democratic Republic of the Congo has accused the EU of “an obvious double standard” for levying wide-ranging sanctions in response to the war in Ukraine, while maintaining a trade deal with Rwanda, which has fuelled conflict in eastern DRC.

- Jennifer Rankin

Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner, the DRC foreign minister, described the EU’s response to Rwanda’s violations of DRC territory as “very timid” and urged the bloc to levy much stronger sanctions against its neighbour, which supplies minerals to Europe’s hi-tech industries.

Referencing the EU’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, she said: “It is an obvious double standard ... that makes us curious about understanding why the EU again struggles so much to take action.”

The decades-old conflict between DRC and Rwanda escalated early this year when the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group seized swathes of DRC territory, including two key cities.

Both countries signed a peace deal in June, brokered by the US and Qatar, but deadly attacks on civilians have continued and a deadline to reach a long-term peace agreement was missed in August.

Last year, a group of UN experts said up to 4,000 Rwandan troops were fighting alongside M23 and that the Rwandan military was in “de facto control of M23 operations”. Rwanda has denied backing M23 and says its forces act in self-defence.

Wagner’s comments preceded an event in Brussels on Thursday, attended by the leaders of both countries. Here, the DRC president, Félix Tshisekedi, appealed to the president of Rwanda, Paul Kagame, to stop supporting militants in DRC.