Rwanda-backed rebels seemed to be heading towards a third main city in eastern Congo, frightened residents stated Tuesday, as worldwide stress rose over the M23’s enlargement in the mineral-rich area that is vital for world know-how.
“We’re afraid that the enemy will advance to Butembo,” stated Auguste Kombi, a civil society chief in Kitsombiro, a city on the street to the city of over 150,000 individuals.
He instructed The Associated Press that every one major Congolese military positions alongside the street in the world have been attacked Tuesday morning, and safety was quickly deteriorating.
It means the M23 are now transferring each north and south of Goma, the city of over 2 million individuals it seized final month as about 3,000 individuals have been killed. The rebels this week seized one other provincial capital to Goma’s south, Bukavu, close to Burundi.
The M23 is probably the most outstanding of greater than 100 armed teams vying for management of eastern Congo’s trillions of {dollars} in mineral wealth. The rebels are supported by about 4,000 troops from neighboring Rwanda, based on U.N. consultants, and at occasions have vowed to march so far as Congo’s capital, Kinshasa, over 1,000 miles away.
“We’re nervous as a result of we’re in hazard of experiencing a scenario just like that in Goma, with the lack of human lives,” said Kambale Nyuliro, a Kitsombiro civil servant. He told the AP that Lubero town, on the way to Butembo, was surrounded on three sides by M23 fighters but still under Congolese army control.
“Since the fighting began, the enemy has only advanced,” he said.
Analysts have said the rebels are eyeing political power, unlike their brief capture of Goma, a major security and humanitarian hub, in 2012.
The rebel-appointed mayor of Goma said Tuesday they would carry out a census, in a sign of their intention to maintain control of the city. And ferry service resumed between Goma and Bukavu, the only way to travel between them for now.
Rwanda has accused Congo of enlisting ethnic Hutu fighters responsible for the 1994 genocide in Rwanda of minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus. M23 says it’s fighting to protect Tutsis and Congolese of Rwandan origin from discrimination and wants to transform Congo from a failed state to a modern one. Analysts have called those pretexts for Rwanda’s involvement.
On Tuesday, the U.K. Foreign Office summoned the Rwandan ambassador in London and in a statement condemned the rebel gains, calling them “an unacceptable violation of (Congo’s) sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
“The authorities of Rwanda should instantly withdraw all Rwanda Defense Force troops from Congolese territory,” the assertion added.
There was no speedy remark from Rwanda.
Dozens of armed teams have lengthy been lively in eastern Congo, displacing greater than 6 million individuals and creating the world’s largest humanitarian disaster.
The M23’s newest motion north retains the rebels not removed from Uganda, which on Tuesday stated it despatched troops into one more eastern Congo city additional to the north, Bunia. Uganda stated it was meant to fight violence by armed teams. It has periodically despatched troops into Congo in settlement with the federal government in Kinshasa.
Also Tuesday, the U.N. human rights chief accused the Rwanda-backed rebels of killing kids and attacking hospitals and warehouses storing humanitarian help.
Volker Türk stated in a assertion that his workplace “confirmed cases of summary execution of children by M23 after they entered the city of Bukavu last week. We are also aware that children were in possession of weapons.”
He supplied no particulars, however U.N. companies have beforehand accused each the rebels and Congolese authorities forces of recruiting kids.
The U.N. Human Rights Council this month launched a fee that may examine atrocities, together with rapes and killings akin to “summary executions,” dedicated by either side this 12 months.
Published – February 19, 2025 03:13 am IST
