Responding to the call of civil society and citizen movements, several thousand people demonstrated Monday in Goma in the province of North Kivu against Rwanda, accused by the DRC of supporting the M23 which continues to gain ground.
Thousands of Congolese poured into the streets of the capital of North Kivu to say all the bad things they think of Rwanda and its president, Paul Kagame, accused of supporting the M23 rebels. What Kigali has always denied by accusing the DRC of working hand in hand with the Rwandan Hutu rebels of the FDLR.
Some of the demonstrators armed with sticks, stones and sometimes machetes then headed towards the “great barrier”, one of the two border posts between Goma and Gisenyi in Rwanda, begging the Congolese authorities to give them arms so that they ” attack in turn the neighboring country. They were dispersed with tear gas and shots in the air by the Congolese police.
Later in the afternoon, the military governor of North Kivu province called on the population to be vigilant. He also called on civil society and citizens’ movements to refrain from organizing demonstrations. They would favor, according to General Constant Ndima Kongba, “ enemy infiltration “, whereas the M23 rebels keep getting closer to Goma.
► Also to listen: “The Rwandan army comes to the aid of the M23 and advances under cover of the M23”, according to the head of diplomacy in the DRC
” In less than a week, the territory controlled by the M23 has almost doubled “, tweeted Monday at the end of the day the Security Barometer of Kivu, which has experts in the region. The rebels’ bridgehead is reported at Rugari, barely thirty kilometers north of Goma, according to concordant sources.