Defence ministers and military experts from the Great Lakes Region have identified money and logistics as the main challenges to the activation of a neutral force to monitor the Rwanda and DR Congo border, as tension in the region continues to build.

The issue of force composition also dominated the meeting of ministers of defence and military experts held in the eastern DRC town of Goma.

Little information has emerged out of the two-day Goma meeting, which was a follow up to the one held in Kampala earlier this month.

But a source who attended the meeting told Rwanda Today that top on the agenda was how the countries will fund the force and whom it will be composed of.

The Goma meeting also focused on the mandate of the force whose job will be to secure the borders of the two neighbours and stop fighting between government forces and M23 rebels waging war in eastern DR Congo.

According to a reliable source, the International Conference of the Great Lakes Region member states debated the source of funding and logistics to support the neutral force, which is expected to operate alongside the UN peacekeeping force MONUSCO already on the ground.

Rwanda’s military and defence spokesperson Brig Gen Joseph Nzabamwita would not go into details of the outcome of the meeting, only saying that the objective of the meeting was to follow up on the recommendations of the Heads of State summit in Kampala.

He however said that the ICGLR Ministers of Defence meeting in Goma was to deliberate more on the security situation in eastern DRC on August 16.

The meeting was preceded by one for Defence and Intelligence Experts on August 12-14 and that of Chiefs of Defence Forces and Intelligence Chiefs from Burundi, Republic of Congo, DR Congo, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.

“The mandate of the established sub-committee of Ministers of Defence of Angola, Burundi, Rep of Congo, DRC, Tanzania and Uganda is to propose urgent actionable steps to ensure that fighting stops completely to allow for the consolidation of peace, security and stability,” Gen Nzabamwita added.

According to him, the sub-committee will also provide details on operationalisation of the neutral international force. “Deliberations are ongoing, with the intention of developing recommendations to the Heads of State in a Summit due September 2012,” he said.

Uganda’s High Commissioner to Rwanda Richard Kabonero, who also attended the meeting in Goma, said that the details and outcomes of the meeting will be forwarded to the Heads of State for approval before being made public.

“What I can confirm is that the meeting is taking place but the details of what we discussed will be available to the press later after the Heads of States endorse the recommendations of the Defence Ministers and experts,” Mr Kabonero said.

A source who attended the meeting also intimated to Rwanda Today that during the discussions, Kinshasa representatives maintained that Rwanda Defence Forces (RDF) should not constitute the neutral force.

The meeting was also attended by Gen James Kabarebe, Rwanda’s Defence Minister and the Chief of Defence Staff Lt Charles Kayonga.

Gen Kabarebe was cited in the United Nations Group of Experts report as one of the high ranking Rwandan officials linked to the M23 rebels who have waged war against President Joseph Kabila’s government. Rwanda continues to deny any linkage to the rebels.

ICGLR executive secretary Alphonse Tumba Luamba told the media shortly after the meeting that the regional body members are “keen” on solving the conflict that has displaced close to 200, 000 people.

However questions still linger on who such a force should be composed of, while major concerns remain on the source of income and logistics to enable the force to carry out its mandate.

The meeting in Kampala agreed in principle on a “neutral, home-grown African force” funded by member states without specifying the source of income.

Monusco, which is funded by the UN, has an annual of budget of over $1 billion — a bill analysts doubt regional countries can foot.

Meanwhile, as regional states focus on drawing up a framework for the neutral observer force, Rwanda continues in its efforts to water down the impact of the UN Group of Experts reports, which has implicated Kigali in “supporting and training” the M23 rebels.

The draft report is expected to be published by the world body in November but despite issuing a strong rebuttal stating its position, Kigali continues to find itself entangled in a war of words with the Group of Experts, with the most recent of accusations targeting the co-ordinator of the Group, Steve Hege.

Rwanda has maintained that Mr Hege is not the right person to lead the Group as he is biased against the Kigali regime.

This follows recent findings, again by the Group of Experts, alleging that during their recent visit to Kigali, on the invitation of the government, the experts unearthed more evidence apparently linking Rwanda to the DRC conflict.

The Group alleges in its latest findings that fresh graves were seen at Kanombe Military Barracks and they are likely to contain remains of Rwandan officers who perished in the eastern DRC fighting. But a statement released by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Louise Mushikiwabo describes the latest allegations of “fresh graves” as “tasteless and false.”

“In the latest attempt to accuse Rwanda of complicity in the M23 mutiny, the Group of Experts wrote that during its own visit to Kanombe Military Barracks on July 25 it observed several fresh graves in the cemetery behind the hospital,” Mushikiwabo said.

“When the Group inquired about the graves, RDF officers stated that peacekeepers had recently been killed in Darfur. The Group notes, however, that there have been no deceased RDF peacekeepers in Darfur since March 2012.”

“Were he or his colleagues serious about verifying their increasingly outlandish claims, Mr Hege would have discovered that a burial ceremony had taken place the previous day, July 24, for a returned soldier from Darfur, Lt. Vincent Mirenge,” said Ms Mushikiwabo.

According to the government, Sgt Jean Claude Tubanambazi, who had also been deployed in Darfur, was buried at Kanombe on July 13, according to the government spokesperson’s office.

Sergeant-Major Jackson Muhanguzi, who had served as a peacekeeper in South Sudan, was buried on June 30 at the same place and all this information can be verified with the UN.

Ms Mushikiwabo called on Mr Hege to amend the report of the fresh findings immediately.

Rwanda is hoping to reduce the damage that will be caused by the report if published in November, with some countries including the US, UK, Germany and Netherlands already having decided to suspend aid to Rwanda following the allegation of support for the M23 rebels.