28/08/13 Reuters: Rwanda blocks proposed U.N. sanctions for two Congo rebels

The latest diplomatic
wrangling in New York came as U.N. helicopters
and artillery attacked M23 rebel positions near the city of Goma in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Wednesday in support of an
offensive by the Congolese armed forces. One U.N. peacekeeper from Tanzania was
killed and three other blue-helmeted troops were wounded. 

The United States and France submitted documents to the U.N.
Security Council's Congo sanctions committee last week
explaining why M23's Colonel Vianney Kazarama, military spokesman for the rebel
group, and Erick Mboneza, an M23 commander, should be hit with U.N. sanctions.

Among other things, those
documents, seen by Reuters, cite a July Human Rights Watch report that accused
Mboneza of ordering the summary execution of a 24-year-old man he said was a
thief.

The documents also refer to
a U.N. Group of Experts report that says Mboneza and an M23 Colonel Kaina, who
is already subject to a U.N. travel ban and asset freeze for his activities in
the rebel group, were seen meeting with Rwandan military officers between March
and May 2013.

The Group of Experts has
repeatedly accused Rwanda of
supporting M23, an allegation Kigali
vehemently rejects. The cross-border accusations underscore the M23 rebellion's
roots in a complex web of local politics and regional conflicts over ethnicity,
land and minerals.

Rwanda's deputy U.N. ambassador, Olivier Nduhungirehe, told Reuters that Kigali blocked the proposed blacklisting because it would
have undermined regional efforts to bring peace to eastern Congo and Kampala
talks between M23 and Congo's
government.

He added that the evidence
supporting the U.S.-French proposal was "very poor."

Diplomats said Rwanda, a
temporary council member, was the only one of the 15 member nations that
opposed the idea of blacklisting the two men.

The Security Council's
sanctions committee works on the basis of consensus, which means Rwanda was able
to singlehandedly block the proposed blacklisting.

In theory, council members
could vote on the blacklistings in a Security Council resolution that Rwanda would be
unable to block. It was not clear if the council was prepared to do that.

'DEEPLY REGRETTABLE'

Separately, Rwanda has
repeatedly rejected council efforts to issue a public statement condemning M23
attacks on U.N. peacekeepers last week, U.N. diplomats said. Rwanda
complained that the Western-drafted statement was unbalanced and unfairly
targeted the M23 while ignoring attacks by the Congolese army.

Kigali initially criticized the statement
for not mentioning shelling onto Rwandan territory last week, though later
drafts, all seen by Reuters, did ask for the council condemn the firing into Rwanda.

A new draft of the
statement was rejected by Rwanda
on Wednesday. A Rwandan delegate said in an email to other Security Council
members that it could not support some of the language in the latest draft
text.

One council delegation
responded to the Rwandan rejection by saying , "It would be the first time
when attacks on U.N. peacekeepers are not condemned by the Security Council.
This situation is deeply regrettable," according to a copy of the email,
seen by Reuters.

But Nduhungirehe said
negotiations on a statement were continuing. "We are now close to an
agreement," he said.

A 3,000-strong U.N.
intervention brigade, with a tough new mandate to protect civilians and
neutralize armed groups in the mineral-rich central African nation, sprang into
action last week after it accused the M23 rebels of shelling Goma. The violence
has been escalating there in recent days.