KINSHASA, Congo/KIGALI, Rwanda: At least 150 rebels were killed as violence flared in DR Congo. The rebels died in clashes on Thursday between the M23 rebel group and Democratic Republic of Congo troops, the regional governor said, as violence flared days after the UN and US imposed sanctions on the group’s leader.
According to a BBC report that quoted the regional governor, more than 150 rebels have been killed in the fighting.
The flare-ups near the eastern city of Goma came a day after the UN said armed groups in the region slaughtered over 200 people including scores of children between April and September.
Julien Paluku, governor of the resource-rich North Kivu province whose capital is Goma, added that “a few” members of the DR Congo government forces (FARDC) were wounded in the clashes.
According to the army’s spokesman for North Kivu, Lieutenant Colonel Olivier Hamuli, one FARDC commander died in the clashes.
M23 military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Vianney Kazarama however refused to release a toll.
The M23, which has dubbed its armed wing the Congolese Revolutionary Army, was launched by former fighters in an ethnic Tutsi rebel group that was integrated into the Congolese military under a 2009 peace deal whose terms the mutineers claim were never fully implemented.
The United Nations has accused neighboring Rwanda and Uganda of backing the rebels, but both countries deny this.
A rebel statement accused the DR Congo army of launching several offensives against M23 positions in the Rugari area, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from Goma not far from the Rwandan border.
It said the fighting was a breach of an already shaky ceasefire.
“People are scared,” said Omar Kavota, spokesman of the umbrella NGO Societe civile of North Kivu.
Goma is also ringed by several refugee camps, which had prompted the UN mission in DR Congo (Monusco) to send in helicopters to stop the advance of rebels in July.
With Thursday’s incident “we are seeing an influx of displaced people to the Kanyarucinya camp”, about 10 kilometres (six miles) from Goma, said Kavota.
According to the M23’s political advisor Jean-Marie Runiga, the rebels’ armed branch had been given instructions to “vigorously respond to the adversary’s attacks and to push him back as far as possible”.
But M23 military spokesman Kazarama denied in the afternoon that the rebels had any plans to march on Goma.
Rwanda slams the flare-ups
Rwandan Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo yesterday slammed the fresh fighting, saying it undermined regional peace efforts.
“The activities of the FARDC, M23 and other armed groups in DRC must stop because they continue to jeopardize ongoing regional efforts to bring about lasting peace and security in eastern DRC,” Mushikwabo said in a statement.
Mushikiwabo argued that the violence in DR Congo had direct repercussions on Rwanda, saying that civilians on the Rwandan side of the border have been injured by stray bullets and that a growing number of Congolese refugees were crossing in.
The United Nations has accused Rwanda of being the driving force behind the M23 rebellion, which erupted earlier this year. Kigali denies the allegation.
A ceasefire that came into force three months had largely held until fighting flared in Thursday near Goma, the North Kivu provincial capital that lies near the border with Rwanda.
FROM: AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE