Rwanda fires at DR Congo military jet as it lands in Goma

The tension between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo went a notch higher on Tuesday after Kigali shot at Kinshasa’s military jet as it approached landing in Goma. Even though the exact airspace in which it was shot at was unspecified, Rwanda said it had taken “defensive measures” against what it said was Congolese aggression.

A brief statement from the Rwanda Defence Forces headquarters said that at 5:03pm, a Sukhoi-25 from the DRC violated Rwandan airspace for the third time.

A video of a missile being fired at the plane was shared on social media. The Sukhoi-25, however, managed to land at Goma airport in North Kivu, eastern DRC. The Democratic Republic of Congo then claimed that the plane was “attacked as it began its landing on the runway of Goma International Airport”.

DRC said the Rwandan fire was directed at a Congolese aircraft flying inside Congolese territory and that It did not fly over Rwandan airspace in any way.

Kinshasa termed the firing of the missile “a deliberate action that amounts to an act of war whose objective is to sabotage the ongoing efforts in the implementation of the actions agreed upon in the framework of the peace process”.