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Rwanda says has right to review U.N. relations after report

by Reuters
Friday, 1 October 2010 03:56 GMT

KIGALI, Oct 1 (Reuters) - Rwanda said on Friday it had the right to review future engagements with the U.N. and warned that a report accusing its troops of committing atrocities in the Democratic Republic of Congo could harm regional stability.

The United Nations released a report on Friday documenting hundreds of atrocities in the former Zaire between 1993 and 2003. [ID:nLDE690135]

In August, Rwanda threatened to pull its 3,500 U.N. peacekeepers out of Sudan's western Darfur region after a leak suggested the report had found its forces committed genocide.

"Rwanda will continue to defend herself against all attempts to rewrite our history in any form and in any forum, including reserving the right to review our various engagements with the U.N." Louise Mushikiwabo, Foreign Minister and government spokeswoman, said in a statement.

"It seems clear that no amount of tinkering can resuscitate the credibility of this fundamentally misguided process. This report is yet another attempt to distort Rwanda's history and prolong instability in the Great Lakes Region."

The statement did not say what sort of engagement with the United Nations Rwanda might review.

President Paul Kagame later withdrew Rwanda's threat and decided to keep its troops in Darfur after consultations with U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. [ID:nN24192870] (Reporting by Hereward Holland, editing by George Obulutsa)

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