A soldier from the M23 rebel group looks on as thousands of Congolese people listen during an M23 rally, in Goma, eastern Congo, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2012. Thousands of Congolese soldiers and policemen defected to the M23 rebels Wednesday, as rebel leaders vowed to take control of all Congo, including the capital Kinshasa. The rebels organized a rally at Goma's Stadium of Volcanoes after seizing control of the strategic city in eastern Congo Tuesday. (AP Photo/Marc Hofer)
A soldier from the M23 rebel group looks on as thousands of Congolese people listen during an M23 rally, in Goma, eastern Congo, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2012. Thousands of Congolese soldiers and policemen defected to the M23 rebels Wednesday, as rebel leaders vowed to take control of all Congo, including the capital Kinshasa. The rebels organized a rally at Goma's Stadium of Volcanoes after seizing control of the strategic city in eastern Congo Tuesday. (AP Photo/Marc Hofer)
UNITED NATIONS (AP) ? The Rwandan military is commanding and supporting the rebel force that overtook a major city in eastern Congo this week, a United Nations report released Wednesday said.
The highly anticipated report said, "The government of Rwanda continues to violate the arms embargo by providing direct military support to the M23 rebels, facilitating recruitment, encouraging and facilitating desertions from the armed forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and providing arms, ammunition, intelligence and political advice."
The report also says, "The de facto chain of command of M23 includes Gen. Bosco Ntaganda and culminates with the Minister of Defence of Rwanda, Gen. James Kabarebe."
The report also accuses Uganda of involvement. Uganda has said it would pull its troops out of U.N. peacekeeping operations if it was named in the report.
Both Rwanda and Uganda have denied supporting the M23 rebel movement, which took the city of Goma, which has a population of more than 1 million, on Tuesday.
Thousands of Congolese soldiers and policemen defected to the M23 rebels Wednesday as rebel leaders vowed to take control of all Congo, including the capital, Kinshasa.
The U.N. accuses the M23 of grave crimes including recruiting child soldiers, summary executions and rape.
The U.N. report says, "Senior officials of the Government of Uganda have also provided support to M23 in the form of direct troop reinforcements in Congolese territory, weapons deliveries, technical assistance, joint planning, political advice and facilitation of external relations."
The report adds, "Both Governments have also cooperated to support the creation and expansion of the political branch of M23 and have consistently advocated on behalf of the rebels. M23 and its allies include six sanctioned individuals, some of whom reside in or regularly travel to Rwanda and Uganda."
The M23 is made up of hundreds of officers who deserted the Congo army in April this year.
Earlier Wednesday, the U.N.'s special representative for Congo said the 19,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping force there is being stretched thin by multiple rebel militias in the eastern part of the country, including Goma.
Roger Meece made the assessment in a live videoconference linkup to the Security Council from Kinshasa.
The council is assessing the performance of the MONUSCO peacekeeping force after 1,500 of its troops stood by Tuesday and let M23 rebels take Goma without resistance.
U.N. helicopters over the weekend fired hundreds of rockets at the rebels in a bid to slow their advance on the city of 1 million.
But U.N. officials say the U.N. force commander in Goma ordered the peacekeepers not to shoot Tuesday in order to avoid provoking a major firefight in the city after Congolese troops retreated.
Meece said the M23 rebels were "well provisioned," uniformed and supplied with weapons, including night-vision goggles, which clearly came from some outside party.
He did not name Rwanda or Uganda.
Rwanda has been elected by the U.N. General Assembly to serve a two-year position on the 15-member Security Council beginning in January, which will complicate efforts by the council to come to grips with the country's intervention in neighboring Congo.
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On the Web: www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol(equals)S/2012/843
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