Kinshasa, Jan 25 (EFE). – Fighting between the rebel March 23 Movement (M23) and the army of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) continued on Saturday in the east of the country amid international concern over the escalation of the conflict.
Clashes broke out on two fronts in Masisi territory near Goma, the strategic capital of North Kivu province, home to some two million people and the headquarters of many international NGOs and UN offices.
The M23 has threatened to take Goma after a week of intense clashes with the army and its allied militias, known as “wazalendo” (“patriots” in Swahili).
The United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Monusco) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) peacekeeping mission assisting the DRC army in halting the rebel group’s advance.
On Jan. 21, the M23 and Rwandan forces captured Minova, a town 40 kilometers from Goma, cutting off supply routes to the city.
“The horrific abuses by the M23, Wazalendo, and the Rwandan and Congolese armies should serve as a stark warning to concerned governments that they need to press the warring parties to protect civilians,” said Clémentine de Montjoye, senior Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch.
More than 300 people have been injured in the east of the country this week as fighting between the army and rebel groups intensified, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
The humanitarian situation is particularly dire in Goma, where there is a shortage of drinking water and almost no electricity, according to local media.
According to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the upsurge in fighting has displaced 400,000 people in the last three weeks, adding to the more than four million already displaced in the area.
Peacekeepers killed
Nine South African soldiers have been killed and more than a dozen wounded in clashes with the M23 this week, a South African military union said Saturday.
Seven were part of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) mission in the DRC, known as SAMIDRC, and two were part of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in the DRC (Monusco).
Three Malawian soldiers from the SADC were also killed, according to the Malawian army.
One Uruguayan soldier died and four others were wounded, all members of Monusco, after an operation in North Kivu, the Uruguayan army confirmed on Saturday.
Nine other blue helmets (including four Guatemalan soldiers) were also wounded on Thursday and Friday, according to Monusco, which announced on Saturday the temporary relocation of its non-essential staff to Goma in light of the M23 advance.
The move aims to ensure the staff’s safety while maintaining essential UN operations in the province, it will not affect the delivery of UN humanitarian assistance in North Kivu.
International concern
The severity of the crisis is already causing considerable international concern.
The chairman of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, on Saturday, called for an immediate cessation of all hostilities in the east of the country, after stressing that he was “following with great attention the deteriorating humanitarian and security situation.”
Mahamat made an “urgent appeal to the international community to mobilize all possible support for the populations affected by the serious collateral damage of this expanding war.”
The European Union also said the rebel group’s advance was an “unacceptable” violation of the 2024 cease-fire, worsening the “catastrophic” humanitarian situation, and urged Rwanda to withdraw and to stop supporting the M23.
Although Rwandan authorities deny alleged collaboration with the rebel group, the UN has confirmed the alliance.
Meanwhile, Rwanda and the M23 accuse the Congolese army of collaborating with the rebel group Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), founded in 2000 by leaders of the 1994 genocide and other Rwandans exiled in the DRC to regain political power, a collaboration also confirmed by the UN.
The M23’s armed activity resumed in November 2021 with lightning attacks against the Congolese army in North Kivu.
In March 2022 the group launched an offensive with recurrent seizures and losses of territory.
Since then, it has advanced on several fronts to position itself near Goma, which the group occupied for ten days in 2012.
Since 1998, the eastern DRC has been in conflict between rebel militias and the army, despite the presence of Monusco. EFE
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