Rwanda closes DRC border

2004-06-06 13:16

Kigali - Rwanda closed its border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) overnight as a "precautionary measure", the Rwandan interior ministry said on Sunday.

"The border has been closed since last (Saturday) night," the interior ministry's Secretary General Joseph Mutaboba told AFP.

The border was still closed by midday on Sunday, he added, without saying how long it would remain so.

The border lies next to DRC's Kivu provinces, where dissident troops last week captured the key town of Bukavu, prompting DRC President Joseph Kabila to accuse Rwanda, whose troops backed rebels during DRC's 1998-2003 war, of being behind the takeover.

The leader of the dissidents, General Laurent Nkunda, said on Sunday he was pulling out of Bukavu.

Both he and Rwanda have denied Kigali's involvement in his actions.

On Friday, Kabila said in a broadcast address that Rwanda was trying to prevent "the effective reunification of the country (DRC) and the re-establishment of state authority across the national territory."

The same day, Rwandan Defence Minister Marcel Gatsinzi insisted his government had "absolutely no involvement in the crisis in eastern Congo. It's an internal affair."

Rwanda has twice deployed troops in the DRC, first in 1996 to back rebels who ousted dictator Mobutu Sese Seko and again in 1998 to support the Congolese Rally for Democracy, a former rebel group of which Nkunda is a member.

- AFP