UN stops rebels from taking Congo airport

GOMA, CONGO— The spokesman for the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Congo says the rebels now controlling the city of Goma attempted to take the airport, which is under UN control, and to seize arms stored there. Spokesman Madnodje Mounoubai said the M23 rebels were trying to steal weapons belonging to the Congolese army. He said the UN will “not allow or tolerate” the rebels to take the airport or the equipment there.

Rebel leader Gen. Sultani Makenga accused the UN of blocking the rebels’ withdrawal from Goma.

He warned that this “changes everything,” meaning the rebels may no longer leave the city as promised. The M23 was given an ultimatum to leave by Friday.

The delay raises the possibility that the M23 rebels don’t intend to leave the city they seized last week, giving credence to a UN Group of Experts report which argues that neighbouring Rwanda is using the rebels as a proxy to annex territory in mineral-rich eastern Congo. But their retreat was visible in the town of Sake, some 30 kilometres west of Goma, where reporters saw a twokilometre-long column of M23 soldiers move out. The agreement brokered by neighbouring nations had called for the rebels to leave the region of Masisi, the last area that the fighters took last week, retreating first to Sake, then to Goma, and then to a position 20 km north of Goma. The column of soldiers was at least a thousand deep.

They carried their weapons, including mortar launchers, on their heads and rocket-propelled grenades on their backs. They walked in an orderly fashion. All in silence. The people of Sake stood to the side watching, not clapping nor shouting.

The M23 rebels are widely believed to be supported by Rwanda.