Suspicion of Rwandan involvement in insurgency in the Congo means Swedish economic aid to the country is stopped

Wednesday, 08 August 2012
Sweden says it will stop payments of economic aid to Rwanda because of allegations that Rwanda is involved in the ongoing insurgency in eastern Congo.

Swedish economic support to the tiny African country is supposed to be used to foster economy development and improving the quality of life of its people and not a means for them to spend it on arms and military hardware to kill its people with.

Swedish economic aid minister Gunilla Carlsson says she is extremely concerned about developments in eastern Congo.

Swedish taxpayers account for only 2 percent of total aid to Rwanda but the decision has symbolic importance when Sweden was one of the first countries to enter into assistance to Rwanda after the 1994 genocide.

In eastern Congo since April this year there has been an uprising known as M23. Rwanda has repeatedly been accused of supporting the insurgents, which now threatens to take control of the important provincial capital Goma.

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In June a preliminary report was published by the UN Expert Group on the Congo. The letter contained a long list of accusations against Rwanda. Among other things, the group claim that experts from Rwanda equipped with M23 weapons, uniforms and soldiers.

Gunilla Carlsson however hold that they want to find out more about the accusations, how Rwanda's reaction to them look and how they will deal with the accusation.

Sweden's aid to Rwanda amounts to around Skr180 million per year. Now they are expected Sweden to make further payments, like several other western countries.

Rwanda is a heavily aid-dependent country and in strong terms rejects the criticism with a comprehensive letter to the UN Security Council. Among other things, they say that Sweden did not seek the Kigali's stance on the issue.

"I do not have all the information about the Swedish decision, but I think it is made before our defense became known," says Rwanda's ambassador in Stockholm, Venetia Sebudandi.

The decision had made Sweden to depart from a practice of not using aid as leverage.

"Yes, one can call it a pressure. But this decision is about how our relationship should look like. Should we continue to work through the Rwandan government or should we, as in other countries where the situation is much worse, go through the civil society and other organizations?

Subsequently, should the developments in Rwanda becomes negatively the situation gets worse in eastern Congo," says Gunilla Carlsson to Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter.
Today a two-day conference in the Ugandan capital of Kampala ends, where the region's leaders meet in order to bring about a solution to the acute situation in eastern Congo.
by Scancomark.se Team

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