After having conquered Goma in the east of the DRC, the armed armed group M23 and the Rwandan army progress in the neighboring province of South Kivu, where young volunteers began this Friday, January 31, to enlist in fighting militias Alongside the Congolese army in difficulty.
In this conflict that has lasted for more than three years, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) accuses Rwanda of wanting to plunder its many natural wealth in the region. Rwanda says he wants to eradicate armed groups, notably created by ex-many-responsible genocide in 1994 of the Tutsi in Rwanda, which, according to him, threaten his security. The eastern DRC has been torn apart for decades by the violence of multiple armed groups, exacerbated after the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.
An extraordinary summit of the Development Community of Southern Africa (SADC) opened in the Zimbabwean capital on Friday, Harare, to find “sustainable solutions” to the conflict. Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi had to participate in videoconference, but not Rwandan President Paul Kagame. The SADC has troops deployed in the east of the DRC (Samidrc), just like the UN (Monusco), and these two peacekeeping forces paid a heavy price this week with 17 killed.
The M23 progresses in the east to Bukavu
Goma, capital of the North Kivu province stuck between Lake Kivu and the Rwandan border, fell in recent days after a flash offensive, launched after the failure in mid-December of an Angolan mediation attempt between the DRC and Rwanda. Since the fall of the great city, the M23 and the Rwandan troops have progressed in the neighboring province of South Kivu to Kavumu. This locality houses a strategic military airport and the Congolese army established its main defense line there, 40 km north of the city of Bukavu and its million inhabitants, according to local sources.
At the same time, against a backdrop of fears of a regional conflagration, the Ugandan army announced on Friday that it would “strengthen its defenses” in the east of the DRC. Objective: “dissuade” and “prevent the many other armed groups” operating in the region “from exploiting the situation, and protecting and securing the interests of Uganda”.
“Ready to die”
Responding to the pressing call from the Congolese authorities, several hundred volunteers came to register on Friday in the Bukavu stadium, chief town of South Kivu, to go to the front, noted an AFP journalist. “I am ready to die for my country,” said one of them, Juvenal Bahati Muhigirwa Ndagano, before joining a disorderly battalion of future militiamen in troubled outfits.
In the capital, Kinshasa, dozens of people donated their blood, to the call of the Ministry of Health, for the soldiers and civilians injured in the Goma region, where sporadic fighting continues in the northern outskirts. “We cannot just say that we love the country only on social networks, we must take gestures that save lives,” AMY VODU, 30, told AFP.
Running water and electricity have returned to most of the Goma districts, and some customers even sip a beer on the terrace. A few dozen residents of Goma, under the narrow guard of armed fighters from the M23 who invited the press, brandished on Friday in the streets of the banners claiming “we are tired with Tshisekedi”.
700 killed in the fighting in Goma since Sunday
The UN expressed concern about the generalized violence perpetrated by each camp, citing summary executions and cases of sexual violence. The clashes in Goma left more than 700 people dead and 2,800 injured, according to hospitals. They also aggravated a chronic humanitarian crisis in a region where, according to the UN, more than 500,000 people have been moved since the beginning of January.
The offensive on Goma, cited by more than a million inhabitants and almost as many displaced, aroused many international calls at the end of the fighting and the withdrawal of Rwandan troops. French President Emmanuel Macron spoke with his Angolan, Ugandan and Burundian counterparts to try to stop hostilities, said the French presidency on Friday. Belgium has asked the European Union to consider sanctions against Rwanda. London threatened on Thursday “a review of all British aid in Rwanda”.
Félix Tshisekedi condemned “silence” and “the inaction” of the international community in the face of “the barbarism of the Kigali regime”, warning against “an escalation with unpredictable consequences” in the region of the Great Lakes.