Congo’s M23 rebel group has denied shooting down a United Nations helicopter that crashed in Eastern Congo on Tuesday, March 29, 2022, killing all eight people onboard.

Rebel spokesman, Will Ngoma, on Wednesday, March 30, 2022, accused Congo’s army of firing at the helicopter even though Congo’s military had earlier blamed the M23 for the crash of the U.N. helicopter.

Despite ongoing efforts to disarm the group, M23 rebels have recently increased their attacks in the region. M23 spokesman, Ngoma, said the group remains a political and military movement in Congo and does not receive aid from neighboring Rwanda or Uganda as alleged.

“We have weapons that were left by the Congolese army on the battlefields”, he said, speaking on a mobile phone from an undisclosed location in eastern Congo. He said the group will stop its attacks if Congo will honor a peace accord it signed with them.

Eight U.N. peacekeepers were killed in the crash amid rebel fighting on Sunday, the U.N. mission in Congo said. The bodies of the peacekeepers have been taken to Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, and an investigation has been launched into the cause of the crash, the U.N. mission in Congo, known as MONUSCO, disclosed.

Those on board the Puma helicopter included six crew members — all from the Pakistani military — and two military personnel, one from the Russian Federation and one from Serbia, the U.N stated. It was one of two helicopters deployed in eastern Congo to monitor the situation after the rebels attacked several villages in the region, including Tchanzu, Runyonyi, Ndiza and Tchengerero. Meanwhile, Pakistan’s military has confirmed that all the passengers lost their lives, giving the names of the Pakistan pilot and crew.

Eastern Congo is prone to insecurity as several armed groups are vying for control over its mineral-rich lands. In 2012 the M23 rebels controlled large areas of Eastern Congo, including Goma. The rebels were eventually pushed from Eastern Congo into Uganda and Rwanda in 2013 by Congolese and United Nations forces.

M23 rebels shoot down MONUSCO helicopter

The Congolese army FARDC earlier reported that a UN mission helicopter with eight peacekeepers on board was shot down in the middle of a mission to assess population movements in North Kivu on Tuesday.

“The helicopter was one of the two MONUSCO reconnaisance helicopters with on board eight Blue helmets crew members and United Nations observers”, the FARDC disclosed in a press release.

The incident followed recent clashes between the M23 and the Congolese army after attacks on Sunday against positions in Tchanzu and Runyonyi, in Rutshuru territory (North Kivu). The heavy fighting was reported to have left some Congolese soldiers injured and forced dozens of locals to flee. These new clashes between the Congolese army and M23 rebels have caused massive new displacements of the population.

On March 29, 2022, the Congolese army accused the Rwandan army of backing an active rebellion in its troubled East, which Kigali denied. The move comes after months of growing suspicion and decades of mistrust including accusations from UN investigators against Rwanda and Uganda of supporting the M23.