Rwanda-backed rebels are closing in on the key eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo city of Bukavu, promising to continue their lightning offensive until they take the national capital.
The bloody conflict in the eastern DRC took a dramatic turn this week when Kigali-backed fighters from the M23 claimed to take control of Goma in North Kivu province before advancing southwards in the direction of Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu.
“We will continue the march of liberation to Kinshasa,” declared rebel leader Corneille Nangaa on Thursday, four days after the group said it had captured Goma, where fighting left dozens killed and saw surrendering Congolese soldiers being trucked out of the city to an undisclosed location.
On Thursday, M23 fighters were reportedly within striking distance of a strategic military airport in the city of Kavumu, located about 40km (25 miles) north of Bukavu, according to local sources quoted by AFP news agency.
A United Nations spokesperson warned on the same day that the organization was concerned by “credible reports” that the M23 was “moving rapidly” towards Bukavu, which has a population of two million.
UN experts claim the M23 – one of more than 100 armed groups vying for control in DRC’s east – is backed by some 4,000 soldiers from Rwanda, which Kinshasa says is pillaging valuable resources from the mineral-rich territory.
Rwanda, for its part, says its primary aim is to eradicate fighters linked to the 1994 genocide, accusing the Congolese military of joining forces with ethnic Hutu-led militias bent on slaughtering Tutsis and threatening its neighbor.
The rebel fighters claim they are open to dialogue with the government in Kinshasa. But Congolese Defence Minister Guy Kabombo Muadiamvita rejected talks this week, saying in a video that plans for any dialogue with the rebels be “burned immediately”.
In response to the fast-moving crisis, leaders of the regional bloc the Southern African Development Community (SADC) convened an emergency summit in Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare, on Friday.
The meeting follows soaring tensions between Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame and South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa after the deaths of 13 South African soldiers in DRC’s east.
Rwanda’s Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe said on Thursday: “We are ready to defend ourselves if we are attacked by a coalition including South African forces.”
Goma remained largely without electricity and water on Thursday, as the bodies of several alleged government soldiers lay in the streets.
The M23 offensive has heightened an already dire humanitarian crisis in the region, causing food and water shortages and forcing half a million people from their homes this month, according to the International Organization for Migration.
“Millions of people were already displaced by years of conflict in eastern DRC, and humanitarian needs were massive. With the current alarming upsurge in fighting, an already dire situation is rapidly becoming very much worse,” said IOM Director General Amy Pope.
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