New York -- Rwanda’s permanent representative to the United Nations said the government of Joseph Kabila, President of the Democratic Republic of Congo, continues to support Interahamwe militia and other "negative forces" in the Congo. Ambassador Anastase Gasana said Kabila is thus undermining the peace process.

At a UN Security Council meeting last week to discuss the Lusaka Ceasefire Agreement peace process, the DRC’s minister of foreign affairs was asked if his government still supports the Interahamwe, remnants of the forces that carried out the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. The minister neither confirmed nor denied that, Gasana said.

In his speech to the UN General Assembly last Sunday, Kabila accused Rwandan forces of attempting to remove Congolese resistance in order to continue to plunder the Congo. Gasana angrily denied that Rwandan troops have ever looted in the DRC.

"Our army never went into the Congo before the attacks of Interahamwe militia," Gasana said. "Why didn’t we go into the Congo in ’94 or ’95 or ’96? We went in when we did because of security reasons. We knew the natural resources in the Congo are there, but we never went there."

He also said Rwandan commanders and troops in the DRC were not adequately prepared to loot. "You need experts, you need time, you need infrastructure," Gasana said. "The army of Rwanda has no experts in minerals, no means, no time, no money to do that. We can’t say, if we are marching in the Congo, marching on those natural resources, we’ll stop and take them and put them in our pocket."

Kabila was lashing out at Rwanda in his speech because he does not want to face his own country’s internal problems, Gasana said, calling this "an old song."

At the Security Council meetings, the DRC delegation opposed the creation of a joint force by the Rassemblement Congolais pour la Démocratie (RCD) and the Movement de Libération du Congo (MLC), based in Kindu. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan also questioned the wisdom of this move, and the Security Council Resolution 1376, passed unanimously at the close of the days’ meetings, noted the creation of the joint force with concern.

However, Gasana thinks the move is a good one. "It is a good idea," he said. "They are putting their efforts together to create a common military force for disarmament and disengagement in eastern Congo."

Still, despite his disagreements with Kabila’s government, Gasana is hopeful that the Inter-Congolese Dialogue, set to resume in Pretoria, South Africa later this month, can bring peace to the DRC.

"It is very very important to help the Congolese -- as brothers, as Africans -- to meet together and find a political solution to the Congo crisis," Gasana said. "When it will be found, it will be the end, because mainly the problem is political.

"And when we have a new leadership which will come up from the Congolese dialogue, that leadership will help the country get under control and be secure, and the neighboring countries will be secure as well. We will have strong partners to deal with."