Clashes in eastern DR Congo as East African bloc envoy asks groups to ‘silence the guns’
Goma, DR Congo - Troops and rebels traded heavy fire in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Monday, a military source and local inhabitants said, as an envoy from the East African bloc called for all armed groups to ‘silence the guns’.
Government forces and the M23 militia were fighting in Kibumba, about 20km (12
miles) north of the strategic city Goma, the sources said, speaking by phone. M23 fighters were also seen about 40km northwest of the city in
the Virunga National Park, a wildlife haven famed for its
mountain gorillas but which is also a hideout for armed groups, the sources said.
A mostly Congolese Tutsi group, the M23 - the March 23 Movement - leapt to prominence in 2012 when it briefly captured Goma before being driven out.
After lying dormant for years, the rebels took up arms again in late 2021, claiming the DRC had failed to honour a pledge to integrate them into the army,
among other grievances.
They have since won a string of victories against the military and captured swathes of territory, prompting thousands of people to flee their homes.
The resurgence has ratcheted up diplomatic tensions, with the DRC accus
ing its smaller neighbour Rwanda of backing the group. Kinshasa expelled Rwanda’s ambassador at the end of last month as the M23 advanced, and recalled its own envoy from Kigali.
Rwanda denies providing any support for the M23 and accuses the Congolese army of colluding with the Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) - a notorious Hutu rebel movement involved in the 1994 genocide of Tutsis in Rwanda.
“The Rwandan army and its allies from the M23 don’t stop, every passing day, launching assaults on our different positions in Kibumba,” lieutenant colonel Guillaume Ndjike, army spokesman for the eastern North Kivu province, told reporters.