The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Rwanda exchanged accusations on Tuesday after a fighter jet from the DRC was attacked during its landing, the latest dispute between the two neighbors whose relationship has soured due to a rebel insurgency.

In a statement, Congolese government spokesman Patrick Muyaya condemned the attack against a Sukhoi-25 fighter jet and rejected Rwanda’s accusation that the aircraft was in Rwandan airspace.

‘Rwandan fire was directed at a Congolese aircraft flying over the Congolese territory. It did not fly over Rwandan airspace in any way,’ he said, adding that the incident occurred around 5:00 p.m. local time (1600 GMT) in Goma, capital of the northeastern North Kivu Province.

‘The aircraft landed without major material damage,’ the statement said.

Earlier on Tuesday, Rwanda blamed the Congolese fighter jet for violating its airspace ‘for the third time,’ which prompted Kigali to take ‘defensive measures.’

XINHUA

Source: The Namibian Press Agency