The meeting was held in the evening of Wednesday after Tshisekedi received oaths of three new judges of the Constitutional Court.

As he attended the ceremony, Tshisekedi did not deliver a speech as expected but RTNC , DRC national broadcaster announced that the head of state had other urgent appointments ‘related to issues between the country and Rwanda’.

The Defence Council brought together senior military officers and representatives from other security forces.

Similar meeting held recently resolved on suspension of RwandAir flights to all destinations in DRC including Lubumbashi, Goma and Kinshasa.

One of resolutions taken during the meeting held on Wednesday is ’to demand Rwanda to withdraw its troops from DRC’.

The resolution comes at a time when Rwanda has repeatedly maintained that it has no soldiers on the country’s land. The United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) recently confirmed that it has not yet seen any Rwandan soldier in DRC.

As announced by the minister of communication and spokesperson of DRC, Patrick Muyaya; the Security Council also resolved on requesting DRC government to suspend all agreements signed with Rwanda.

However, it remains unclear whether the decision concerns agreements signed before or during the regime of Tshisekedi.

IGIHE has learnt that another meeting is expected between Thursday and Friday to confirm the revocation.

It is said that the country also mulls suspending diplomatic cooperation.

In March 2019, Rwanda and DRC signed agreements to open airspace which saw RwandAir commencing flights to Kinshasa and vice versa.

In June 2021, DRC and Rwanda signed three cooperation agreements on the promotion and protection of investments, avoidance of double taxation and tax evasion between the two countries as well as a memorandum on gold mining.

Both countries also signed more agreements aligning with their membership to East African Community (EAC).

Since FARDC fight with M23 erupted, DRC has been accusing Rwanda of supporting the rebel group. Rwanda has refuted the allegations as baseless claims and urged the country to stop dragging it into its internal problems.

The Minister of Communication and Spokesperson of DRC, Patrick Muyaya announced the resolutions after attending the High Defence Council.