Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo are working on a joint security plan that could mend ties between the two countries after almost three years of hostilities.

Senior military officials and ministers of defence from both countries met in Kigali and agreed to set up a joint team for the repatriation of ex-M23 rebels in Rwanda, and Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) rebels in DRC. The officials have also agreed to hold security meetings regularly.

Relations between Kigali and Kinshasa cooled after a United Nations report accused Rwanda of supporting M23 rebels operating in eastern Congo.

Kigali denied the allegations and dismissed the report, accusing the Kinshasa government of supporting FDLR, made up of Hutu extremist groups that had operated in eastern DRC for the past two decades.

READ: Zuma moves to defuse tensions over FDLR

Follow-up meeting

The Kigali meeting was a follow-up to others; one held on the sidelines of the International Conference of the Great Lakes Region meeting in Luanda, Angola on May 13, and another in Kinshasa on June 27.

In a joint statement, Rwanda’s Defence Minister James Kabarebe and his Congolese counterpart Aimé Lusa-Diese Ngoi-Mukena said that both countries had agreed to resolve the security issues between them.

“The Kigali meeting has opened a new chapter to enhance the bilateral co-operation to resolve security challenges facing the two countries, particularly the eradication of FDLR present in the eastern DRC, who continue to pose a threat to the two countries, and the repatriation of ex-M23 combatants cantoned in Rwanda,” said a brief statement issued at the end of the meeting in Kigali on Thursday.

“Both governments expressed the commitment to build on what has been achieved so far, and consolidate efforts to restore peace and security in the two countries,” the statement reads.

Of particular concern to Kigali is the disarmament of FDLR rebels estimated to number between 1,500 and 2,000; Rwanda says they could be between 3,500 and 8,500.

READ: As deadline expires, Kinshasa pledges to finally disarm FDLR

And calls by Rwanda and the international community for the group to voluntarily disarm have fallen on deaf ears, leaving military action as the only option.

But the military option has also failed to take off after the UN intervention brigade became reluctant to attack the rebels because the group’s combatants have mingled with civilians in DR Congo.

A UN deadline for the FDLR to disarm lapsed on January 2.
Kinshasa is pushing for the extradition of M23 rebels who fled to Rwanda after their defeat at the hands of the UN brigade.

The group in Rwanda is led by Bishop Jean Marie Runiga and Col Badouin Ngaruye, who fell out with M23 commander Col Sultani Makenga, allegedly on the grounds that they were loyal to General Bosco Ntaganda, who was transferred to The Hague in March 2013.

Kigali has insisted that it is honouring its international obligation to protect the fleeing fighters.