Joint Rwanda-DRC border commission finds most of DRC border inside Rwanda

Source: News of Rwanda

By Gahiji

2 September 2014 -A joint team of experts from Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have confirmed the discovery of the seventeen missing border demarcations between the two countries.

These are part of the 22 demarcations that were put up by Belgian and German colonial rulers in 1911 as separating marks for the two borders from banks of Lake Kivu to Hehu hills.

Most of the demarcations however were found on the Congolese border side, an aspect that has raised fears among Congolese nationals over possibility of losing their land to Rwanda or being counted on the Rwandan side.

However IsdrasRwayitare, one of the experts from the Rwandan side said on August 28, 2014 that final findings and proclamation of actual borderlines will be made official on the September 15, 2014, thereafter, the real border lines will be drawn.

The move will also enable Rwanda to recover Kanyesheja 2- a piece of land that is resided on by Rwandans since independence in 1962, though Google map shows that the land is located in the DRC.

The Congolese borders have been unstable ever since the declaration of DRC as an independent state in 1960, with Belgians living between the borders of Goma in Congo getting expelled into Rwanda through Gisenyi border.

In the wake of the instability, the UN declared 100 meters of no-man’s land (neutral zone) on each of the border sides to ensure a certain level of sovereignty.