M23, backed by Rwanda, held its second public meeting on Thursday since capturing the Congolese city of Goma following bloody hostilities as its fighters moved to another provincial capital.
After capturing Goma, the main town in North Kivu state, last year, the M23 and Rwandan army launched a new unpleasant on Wednesday in a neighbouring county.
Breaking a ceasefire it had declared unilaterally, the fighters seized the South Kivu mining town of Nyabibwe, about 100 kilometres ( 60 miles ) from the regional capital Bukavu.
In declaring the humanitarian ceasefire, the M23 anti-governmental organization had stated that it had” no intention of taking control of Bukavu or other regions.”
The challenge for Goma killed at least 2, 900 people, the United Nations said on Wednesday, in a little higher burdens than previously announced.
Kavumu, the town’s host city and airports, was reported on Thursday by local and philanthropic resources, who were 30 kilometers from Bukavu.
According to the resources, equipment and personnel are being evacuated to prevent being taken by the M23 and its Rwandan friends as they advance.
The Democrat Republic of Congo’s military and government would suffer yet another stinging defeat from the fall of Kavumu, the next challenge before Bukavu.
The M23’s thunder offensive against Goma was a big increase in the mineral-rich area, left scarred by persistent fight involving dozens of armed parties over the course of more than three years of fighting.
One million people live in the city, so residents are being instructed to enter the M23’s public meeting on Thursday.
An AFP journalist witnessed men using loudspeakers in the streets a moment before telling the populace their presence was required.
At M23’s ask, all businesses will be closed on Thursday.
” Governing different”
Initial thing on Thursday night in front of the facility, several thousand persons had already showed up, and the city’s streets were crowded.
M23 people regulated the circulation at the venue gates.
Among the throng, some folks wore T-shirts saying” Governing North Kivu Different”.
Since the M23 resurfaced in late 2021, the DRC troops, which has a reputation for being inadequately trained and undermined by fraud, has been forced to retreat.
The global community and negotiators like Angola and Kenya have been sparked by fears that the crime could lead to a wider conflict.
But, the DRC’s top diplomat on Wednesday blasted it as all speak and no action.
European minister Therese Kayikwamba Wagner told reporters in Brussels,” We see a lot of statements but we don’t notice activities.”
Rwandan President Paul Kagame claimed to have spoken with German Council President Antonio Costa about the state of the eastern DRC and that they “agreed on the necessity of successful de-escalation and a resolution to the conflict that… guarantees sustained peace.”
He and his DRC rival, Felix Tshisekedi, are expected to enter a conference of the eight-country South African acnd 16-member Southwestern American development community in the African city of Dar es Salaam on Saturday.
At Kinshasa’s request, a day earlier, the United Nations human rights council will convene a special session on the crisis.
The International Criminal Court, which investigates allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity, said it was” closely following” what had happened in the eastern DRC.
According to a UN report from last year, Rwanda had up to 4, 000 troops stationed in the DRC and was trying to profit from its vast mineral wealth.
Coltan, a metallic ore essential for the manufacture of phones and laptops, is found in eastern DRC, along with gold and other minerals.
Rwanda has never acknowledged supporting the M23 through military action.
It is claimed that the DRC supports and shelters the FDLR, an ethnic Hutus group that massacred Tutsis in 1994 during the Rwandan genocide.
