Confirmed reports have established that a DRC fighter jet that violated Rwandan airspace on Tuesday evening was shot and returned to land at Goma International airport.
According to a short video clip and photos circulating on social media indicate that the Sukhoi-25 jet was shot midair on one of its right engines. A big bang followed and dark plumes of smoke blew off.
In December last year, a similar Congolese fighter jet stubbornly intruded into Rwandan airspace.
“These repeated violations are against the spirit of Luanda and Nairobi peace initiatives,” Rwandan government spokesperson Yolande Makolo said in a statement.
According to Kigali, another airspace violation occurred on November 7, 2022, when a DRC fighter jet of the same type briefly touched down at Rubavu Airport before flying back to DRC.
The relationship between the two neighbouring countries which all are members of the East African Community bloc has not been good since last year.
Kinshasa accuses Rwanda of aiding the M23 rebels which Kigali has vehemently denied.
Rwanda is concerned of the long friendship between Kinshasa and the FDLR rebel group composed of perpetrators of the 1994 genocide against Tutsi which claimed over a million lives.
Rwanda says that DRC army is fighting alongside the FDLR terror organisation in its struggle against another rebel group M23.
