US urges Rwanda, DRC to de-escalate tensions after new flare-up

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has called Rwanda's leader and pressed for de-escalation after a new flare-up in tensions with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The State Department said on Tuesday Blinken had a "productive" call with Rwandan President Paul Kagame about the "volatile situation," without taking a stance on the alleged border incursion.

The call comes after Blinken's deputy, Victoria Nuland, visited Kinshasa and discussed the friction with Rwanda with President Felix Tshisekedi.

Blinken "relayed US advocacy for a diplomatic solution to the tensions between the two countries and (its) request for each side to take measures to de-escalate the situation," a State Department statement said.

Kinshasa's military late last month accused Rwandan forces of entering its troubled border area, a claim denied by Kigali, which has also been accused of backing rebels in eastern DRC.

Rwanda backs M23?

Blinken, on his own visit to the region last year, said he found credible the allegations of Rwandan support for the M23 rebels, who relaunched their armed campaign in eastern DRC in late 2021.

Other independent UN experts and Western nations agree with Kinshasa.

Kagame denies supporting the Tutsi-led M23 but has called for action in the lawless area against the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, or FDLR, an ethnic Hutu armed group with links to perpetrators of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

Armed groups have plagued much of eastern DRC for three decades, a legacy of regional conflicts that flared in the 1990s and 2000s.

Millions of people across the country are in need of humanitarian aid, according to the International Organization of Migration (IOM).