DR Congo Military Shoots Down Rwandan Drone
The unmanned aerial vehicle was brought down mid-flight Saturday over the Point Zero area within the Minembwe Highlands in Fizi territory, South Kivu province, according to an official military statement.
"This hostile action constitutes a clear violation of national airspace, a clear-cut aggression against the Democratic Republic of Congo, and a new attempt at destabilization in an area under high operational vigilance," said the statement, which was signed by interim army spokesperson Lt. Colonel Mak Hazukay.
Kigali offered no immediate response to the allegations.
Congolese military officials asserted the downed UAV had been conducting an "offensive" operation directed at both army installations and nearby civilian populations. The statement further implicated the AFC/M23 rebel faction, accusing it of coordinating hostile operations alongside Rwandan forces — a move officials characterized as a deliberate effort to sabotage fragile peace commitments brokered during recent diplomatic talks in Switzerland, aimed at easing hostilities across the country's restive eastern corridor.
On the ground, local sources reported a sharp deterioration in security conditions across eastern Congo in recent days, driven by intensified clashes between AFC/M23 fighters and government troops.
Congo, the UN, and multiple Western governments have long accused Rwanda of providing covert backing to the M23 rebel movement — charges Kigali has consistently denied.
M23 spokesperson Lawrence Kanyuka, posting Sunday on X — the social media platform owned by US entrepreneur Elon Musk — alleged that "the coalition forces of the Kinshasa regime carried out simultaneous and uninterrupted bombings against the densely populated areas in the Minembwe region" from Saturday evening through Sunday morning.
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