"RDC Demands Sanctions Against Rwanda," announces La Référence Plus. In a statement released on Monday, May 6, 2024, the government of the DRC is demanding international sanctions against Rwanda, following the bombing of displaced persons' camps near Goma (North Kivu).

For the Congolese government, it is urgent that the international community imposes significant political and economic sanctions to force Rwanda to abandon its terrorist and murderous adventures on Congolese territory.

In the face of this latest attack on Congolese civilians, Kinshasa says it reserves the right to draw all the consequences on the Luanda process and calls on the facilitator to "take responsibility in this regard, but also promises a proportional response."

In the same vein, the Congolese News Agency (ACP) reports that France has "firmly" condemned, in a statement from its embassy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo made public on Monday, "the bombing of displaced persons camps near the city of Goma" on the 3rd of May and called on Rwanda to withdraw its forces.

"As the President of the Republic recalled during the visit of Mr. Félix Tshisekedi, President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to Paris on April 30, France firmly condemns the M23 offensive and calls on Rwanda to withdraw its forces from the DRC," it was written.

"France expresses its solidarity with the victims and their families. It calls for full clarity on the responsibilities for this attack which constitutes a blatant violation of international humanitarian law," stated the French embassy in the statement.

Paris has denounced in this document, "the escalation of violence against civilians in North Kivu" and condemned "any attack against civilians, as well as the use of heavy weapons in proximity of displaced persons camps."

Forum des as reports on the same matter, that Catholic bishops of Congo are slamming their fists on the table. Outraged to learn of the carnage suffered by Congolese compatriots housed in the displaced persons camp at Mugunga, at the gates of Goma, they denounce the "barbarity" displayed by members of M23 supported by the Kigali army. The Catholic prelates call on the African Union and the United Nations to conduct an independent investigation to establish responsibilities. They urge the central government not to merely limit itself to mild and non-binding condemnations.

Le Phare devotes its headline story to the new fuel crisis. "The government and the 'oil companies' are passing the buck," the colleague observes.

According to the president of the oil industry, the crisis prevailing in Kinshasa, where since Friday long queues have been observed in front of service stations, is attributable to the government which has not honored its commitments to compensate for the losses resulting from the difference between the real prices at which fuels should be sold at the pump and those imposed on the oil industry.

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