Congolese border police patrol on their side of the Petite Barriere border crossing with Rwanda in Goma, eastern Congo Friday, June 17, 2022. Rwanda’s military says a Congolese soldier crossed the border and began shooting at Rwandan security forces and civilians before being shot dead Friday morning, the latest escalation in tensions between the countries.
Associated Press
Rwandan border security forces stand guard on their side of the Petite Barriere border crossing with Rwanda in Goma, eastern Congo Friday, June 17, 2022. Rwanda’s military says a Congolese soldier crossed the border and began shooting at Rwandan security forces and civilians before being shot dead Friday morning, the latest escalation in tensions between the countries.
Associated Press
Congolese border police and others stand on their side of the Petite Barriere border crossing with Rwanda in Goma, eastern Congo Friday, June 17, 2022. Rwanda’s military says a Congolese soldier crossed the border and began shooting at Rwandan security forces and civilians before being shot dead Friday morning, the latest escalation in tensions between the countries.
Associated Press
A bicycle is left in the middle of the Petite Barriere border crossing with Rwanda in Goma, eastern Congo Friday, June 17, 2022. Rwanda’s military says a Congolese soldier crossed the border and began shooting at Rwandan security forces and civilians before being shot dead Friday morning, the latest escalation in tensions between the countries.
Associated Press
Rwandan border security forces stand guard on their side of the Petite Barriere border crossing with Rwanda in Goma, eastern Congo Friday, June 17, 2022. Rwanda’s military says a Congolese soldier crossed the border and began shooting at Rwandan security forces and civilians before being shot dead Friday morning, the latest escalation in tensions between the countries.
Associated Press
Rwandan security forces look out from their sentry box as Congolese soldiers patrol on foot on their side of the Petite Barriere border crossing with Rwanda in Goma, eastern Congo Friday, June 17, 2022. Rwanda’s military says a Congolese soldier crossed the border and began shooting at Rwandan security forces and civilians before being shot dead Friday morning, the latest escalation in tensions between the countries.
Associated Press
Residents fill the streets as they follow an ambulance containing the dead body of a Congolese soldier, in Goma, eastern Congo Friday, June 17, 2022. Rwanda’s military says a Congolese soldier crossed the border and began shooting at Rwandan security forces and civilians before being shot dead Friday morning, the latest escalation in tensions between the countries.
Associated Press
Residents fill the streets as they follow an ambulance containing the dead body of a Congolese soldier, in Goma, eastern Congo Friday, June 17, 2022. Rwanda’s military says a Congolese soldier crossed the border and began shooting at Rwandan security forces and civilians before being shot dead Friday morning, the latest escalation in tensions between the countries.
Associated Press
Residents fill the streets as they follow an ambulance containing the dead body of a Congolese soldier, in Goma, eastern Congo Friday, June 17, 2022. Rwanda’s military says a Congolese soldier crossed the border and began shooting at Rwandan security forces and civilians before being shot dead Friday morning, the latest escalation in tensions between the countries.
Associated Press
Residents fill the streets as they follow an ambulance containing the dead body of a Congolese soldier, in Goma, eastern Congo Friday, June 17, 2022. Rwanda’s military says a Congolese soldier crossed the border and began shooting at Rwandan security forces and civilians before being shot dead Friday morning, the latest escalation in tensions between the countries.
Associated Press
KIGALI, Rwanda — Rwanda’s military says a Congolese soldier crossed the border and began shooting at Rwandan security forces and civilians before being shot dead, the latest escalation in tensions between the countries.
A Rwanda Defense Force statement said the unidentified soldier crossed the border Friday morning in Rubavu district and injured two Rwandan police officers. The statement said a Rwanda National Police officer fired in self-defense and the Congolese soldier was killed.
The Rwandan statement said Congolese authorities have been informed and border officials from both countries were at the scene. A body of military experts from regional states also was at the scene.
‘The situation at the border is now calm,’ Rwanda’s statement said.
A Congo government spokesman confirmed an ‘incident’ but gave no details. The body of the Congolese soldier was taken back across the border and into the city of Goma, where a crowd accompanied the car with his remains while shouting ‘hero.”
Decades-old tensions between Rwanda, which has one of Africa’s most effective militaries, and Congo, one of the continent’s largest and most troubled countries, have spiked along their shared border a few hours’ drive from Rwanda’s capital, Kigali, which hosts the Commonwealth summit next week.
Alarm has reached the point where Kenya’s president is urging the immediate deployment of a newly created regional force to eastern Congo to keep the peace.
Each side has accused the other of incursions. Congo now seeks to suspend all agreements with Rwanda. If Rwanda wants war, ‘it will have war,’ a spokesman for the military governor of Congo’s North Kivu province told thousands of protesters on Wednesday.
