CONGO’S PM RESIGNS
…government dissolves amid escalating violence in country's east
KINSHASA - JeanMichel Sama Lukonde, the Prime Minister of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), resigned on Tuesday, triggering the dissolution of his government, the presidency said in a statement.
Lukonde tendered his resignation to President Felix Tshisekedi eight days after the validation of his mandate as a national deputy. He will now join parliament as a member of the assembly.
Lukonde was appointed prime minister in February 2021. After Tshisekedi was re-elected in December, he named a representative to identify a majority coalition within the National Assembly in view of forming his next government.
The resignation comes after France said earlier in the day it was “very concerned” about the situation in the eastern part of DRC and called on Rwanda to cease its support for the M23 rebel group, which has recently stepped up its offensive.
Violent clashes between DRC’s army and M23 Tutsiled rebels have killed scores of people and displaced hundreds of thousands. The fighting, in a war that has lasted decades, has increased the risk of an all-out conflict between DRC and Rwanda that could suck in neighbours and regional forces including South Africa, Burundi, Uganda, Tanzania and Malawi.
Rwanda denies backing the M23 - although the United States, DRC, and a United Nations group of experts have said that it funds and fights alongside the group.
Meanwhile, suspected militants linked to the Islamic State group have killed eight people in an attack in eastern DRC, a local official said on Tuesday.
Rebels from the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) attacked Mayimoya in Beni territory late Monday, administrative official Sabiti Njiamoja said.
“Eight people including three women were killed,” he said, adding the army was carrying out a search operation in the nearby bush.
“We call on our soldiers to take their responsibilities because lately there’s ADF militancy in Eringeti, Kainama and Kokola,” he said, referring to northern locations in North Kivu province.
The ADF, historically a Ugandan Muslim majority rebel coalition, established itself in eastern DRC in 1995.
Its adherents have since killed thousands of civilians, with attacks spreading from North Kivu to neighbouring Ituri province in recent years.
The group, one of the deadliest militias in the strife-torn area, pledged allegiance to the Islamic State organisation in 2019. -