By Djaffar Sabiti and Stanis Bujakera
GOMA (Reuters) -Democratic Republic of Congo closed its border with Rwanda on Friday after a Congolese soldier was shot dead while attacking border guards inside Rwandan territory.
The border closure is the latest escalation in a diplomatic crisis that has broken out between the Central African neighbours since rebels that Congo accuses Rwanda of supporting launched a major offensive in eastern Congo last month.
Rwanda denies Congo’s allegations that it supports the M23 rebels, whose leadership hails from the same Tutsi ethnic group as Rwanda President Paul Kagame, or that it has sent troops into eastern Congo.
Congo’s government ordered the border with Rwanda closed as of 3 p.m. local time (1300 GMT), according to a statement from the office of South Kivu’s governor.
Two Rwandan police officers were injured when the Congolese soldier crossed the border and opened fire, before an officer on duty fired back and killed him 25 metres inside Rwanda, the Rwandan military said in a statement.
Congo’s government said it was investigating the incident.
(Reporting by Djaffar Sabiti in Goma and Stanis Bujakera in Kinshasa; Additional reporting by Clement Uwiringiyimana in Kigali; Writing by Sofia ChristensenEditing by James Macharia Chege, William Maclean)
