M23, Rwandan troops launch fresh Congo offensive

BUKAVU, Congo (AFP) — The M23 armed group and Rwandan forces launched a new offensive on Wednesday in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, days before the Rwandan and Congolese presidents are due to attend a crisis summit.

Breaking a ceasefire they had declared unilaterally, which was due to have taken effect on Tuesday, the M23, together with Rwandan troops, seized a mining town in South Kivu province, security and humanitarian sources told AFP.

The M23, which said in its ceasefire announcement it had “no intention of taking control of Bukavu or other localities,” resumed its advance towards the city of 1 million people, just days after capturing Goma, the capital of neighboring North Kivu province.

Intense clashes broke out at dawn on Wednesday between the M23 with its Rwandan allies and Congolese armed forces, sources said.

The M23 fighters and Rwandan forces seized the mining town of Nyabibwe, about 60 miles from Bukavu and 40 miles from the province’s airport.

“This is proof that the unilateral ceasefire that has been declared was, as usual, a ploy,” Congolese government spokesman Patrick Muyaya told AFP.

In more than three years of fighting between the Rwanda-backed group and the Congolese army, half a dozen ceasefires and truces have been declared, before being systematically broken.

Local and military sources said in recent days that both the Congo army and the M23 and its Rwandan allies were in the process of reinforcing troops and equipment in the region.

Last week’s capture of Goma was a major escalation in the mineral-rich region, scarred by relentless conflict involving dozens of armed groups over three decades.

At least 900 people were killed in the Goma clashes and 2,880 wounded, according to the U.N.’s humanitarian body.

International Criminal Court prosecutors said in a statement they were “closely following” events in the eastern Congo, “including the grave escalation of violence over the past weeks.”

Fears the violence could spark a wider conflict have galvanized regional bodies, mediators such as Angola and Kenya, as well as the United Nations, European Union and other countries in diplomatic efforts for a peaceful resolution.

Diplomatic sources say the M23’s advance in the east of the vast central African nation could weaken the government of Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi, who won a second term in December 2023.

Prayer service

In Bukavu, which residents fear will become the next battle front, a crowd gathered for an ecumenical prayer service for peace organized by local women.

“We are tired of the non-stop wars. We want peace,” one attendee, Jacqueline Ngengele, told AFP.

Tshisekedi and Rwandan President Paul Kagame are due to attend a joint summit of the eight-country East African Community and 16-member Southern African Development Community in the Tanzanian city of Dar es Salaam on Saturday.

A day earlier, the U.N. Human Rights Council will convene a special session on the crisis, at Kinshasa’s request.

But Congo’s top diplomat accused the international community of being all talk and no action on the conflict.

“We see a lot of declarations but we don’t see actions,” Foreign Minister Therese Kayikwamba Wagner told journalists after meeting her Belgian counterpart in Brussels.

Several neighboring countries have already said they are bolstering their defenses due to the crisis.

Uganda’s army announced last week it would adopt a “forward defensive posture” in order to stop “the numerous other negative armed groups operating in eastern DRC from exploiting the situation.”

Burundi’s President Evariste Ndayishimiye has accused Rwanda of “preparing something against Burundi,” adding: “We are not going to let it happen.”

A U.N. expert report said last year that Rwanda had up to 4,000 troops in Congo, seeking to profit from the mining of minerals, and that Kigali has “de facto” control over the M23.

Eastern Congo has deposits of coltan, the metallic ore that is vital in making phones and laptops, as well as gold and other minerals.

Rwanda has never explicitly admitted to military involvement in support of the M23 and alleges that Congo supports and shelters the FDLR, an armed group created by ethnic Hutus who massacred Tutsis during the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

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By Agence France-Presse