Germany said on Tuesday it had halted new development aid to Rwanda and was reviewing its existing commitments in response to the African nation's role in the conflict in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.
The German development ministry said Berlin had informed Rwanda in advance of the move and urged it to withdraw support for the M23 rebel group, which has made advances in eastern Congo.
Congo, U.N. experts and Western powers accuse Rwanda of backing the group. Rwanda denies this and says it is defending itself against ethnic Hutu-led militias bent on slaughtering Tutsis in Congo and threatening Rwanda.
Rwanda's foreign ministry called Germany's action "wrong and counterproductive".
"Countries like Germany that bear a historical responsibility for the recurring instability in this region should know better than to apply one-sided, coercive measures," Rwanda's foreign ministry said in a statement late on Tuesday.
The German ministry said Berlin last pledged aid of 93.6 million euros ($98 million) to Rwanda in October 2022 for the period 2022 to 2024.
The M23 group has captured swathes of eastern Congo and valuable mineral deposits since January.
The ongoing onslaught is the gravest escalation of a long-running conflict rooted in the spillover into Congo of Rwanda's 1994 genocide and the struggle for control of Congo's vast mineral resources.
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Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi on Monday accused Rwanda of failing to uphold its commitments under a U.S.-brokered peace agreement aimed at ending years of conflict in the mineral-rich eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
President Ilham Aliyev and his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame had a one-on-one meeting in Baku, as Kagame pays a working visit to Azerbaijan.
Rwanda on Friday denied claims that M23 rebels, allegedly supported by Kigali, massacred hundreds of civilians in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, calling the accusations “unfounded” and lacking credible evidence.
Japan has lifted a tsunami advisory issued after an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.9 hit the country's northeastern region on Friday (12 December), the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said. The JMA had earlier put the earthquake's preliminary magnitude at 6.7.
The United States issued new sanctions targeting Venezuela on Thursday, imposing curbs on three nephews of President Nicolas Maduro's wife, as well as six crude oil tankers and shipping companies linked to them, as Washington ramps up pressure on Caracas.
Iran is preparing to host a multilateral regional meeting next week in a bid to mediate between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has urged Afghanistan and Pakistan to resolve their tensions through dialogue and engagement, as it pledged to work with the international community to help improve relations between the two countries.
Kyiv has escalated its naval campaign against Moscow’s economic lifelines, claiming a successful strike on a vessel suspected of skirting international sanctions within the Black Sea.
Sudan is facing a record-breaking internal displacement crisis as fighting between the national army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) continues, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported on Friday.
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A bulk carrier owned by a Turkish company was struck during a Russian attack on Ukraine’s southern coast on Friday.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has begun a multi-nation diplomatic tour of the Middle East, showing Beijing’s deepening engagement in a region undergoing conflicts, shifting alliances and major geopolitical realignments.
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