GOMA, DR Congo —
Thousands of anti-Rwanda protesters marched through the eastern city of Goma on
Monday, AFP journalists saw, as M23 rebels tightened their grip on the
surrounding countryside.
اضافة اعلان
A mostly
Congolese Tutsi group, the M23 resumed fighting in late 2021 after lying
dormant for years, accusing the Democratic Republic of Congo’s government of
failing to honor an agreement to integrate its fighters into the army.
The group’s
resurgence has destabilized regional relations in central Africa, with the DRC
accusing its smaller neighbor Rwanda of backing the militia.
The frontline
between the Congolese military and the M23 had been calm for several weeks, but
fresh clashes from October 20 saw the militia make advances across North Kivu
province.
Rebels in recent
days seized the towns of Kiwanja and Rutshuru, along a strategic highway
leading to the provincial capital Goma, which lies on the Rwandan border.
The DRC’s
government decided to expel Rwanda’s ambassador on Saturday. Rwanda stated that
it had noted the decision “with regret”.
The ambassador,
Vincent Karega, left the DRC on Monday.
Thousands of
people demonstrated against Rwanda in Goma the same day, according to AFP
journalists, where police officers used tear gas to disperse them from the
border post with the country.
“We denounce the
hypocrisy of the international community in the face of Rwanda’s aggression,”
said Mambo Kawaya, a civil society representative attending the demonstration.
Protesters
chanted for weapons to fight Rwanda, as well as slogans hostile to Uganda,
which some also accuse of backing the M23.
The rebel group
first leapt to prominence in 2012 when it briefly captured Goma before a joint
Congolese-UN offensive drove it out.
It is one of
scores of armed groups that roam eastern DRC, many of them a legacy of two
regional wars that flared late last century.
Despite official
denials from Kigali, an unpublished report for the UN seen by AFP in August
pointed to Rwandan involvement with the M23.
The same report
said the M23 plans to capture Goma, an important trade hub of about one million
people, to extract political concessions from the Congolese government.
Rwandan
President Paul Kagame tweeted on Monday that he had held a discussion with UN
chief
Antonio Guterres on how to de-escalate.
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