Rwanda says Canada export permit, business suspension over Congo war ‘shameful’

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(Reuters) – Rwanda said on Tuesday that Canada’s position on the conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo was “shameful”, adding that measures announced by Ottawa against Kigali would not solve the conflict.

Late on Monday, Canada announced it had suspended the issuance of permits for the export of controlled goods and technologies to Rwanda, as well as suspending pursuing new government-to-government business and trade missions with Rwanda, and support to private-sector business development activities.

It also said it would review Canadian government participation at international events hosted by Rwanda in the future.

Canada joins the European Union and the United Kingdom that have also announced plans to suspend bilateral aid to Rwanda. The U.S. also announced sanctions against James Kabarebe, a Rwandan state minister for foreign affairs.

The Tutsi-led M23 rebel group entered the city of Goma at the end of January and have since made an unprecedented advance into eastern Congo, capturing territory and getting access to valuable minerals.

Their ongoing onslaught, which started in late December, is already the gravest escalation of a long-running conflict rooted in the spillover into Congo of Rwanda’s 1994 genocide and the struggle for control of Congo’s vast mineral resources.

Congo, U.N. experts and Western powers accuse Rwanda of backing the group.

Rwanda denies this and says it is defending itself against ethnic Hutu-led militias bent on slaughtering Tutsis in Congo and threatening Rwanda.

On Monday, Canada’s Foreign Affairs, International Development; and Export Promotion, International Trade and Economic Development ministers repeated the accusations against Rwanda while announcing the suspensions.

(Reporting by George Obulutsa in Nairobi; Editing by Ammu Kannampilly and Lincoln Feast.)