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Africa Subsaharan

DR Congo army clashes with rebels as Angola pursues peace bid

2022-11-13

[NATIONAFRICA] M23 rebels

... also known as the Congolese Revolutionary Army, the Tutsi group was founded in 2012 as a sock puppet of Rwanda, which no doubt seemed a good idea at the time. But in less than a year the Congolese army defeated them, and then Rwanda publicly stepped back in response to international pressure. Recently M23 has started acting up again, possibly again at Rwandan instigation...

and DR Congo troops clashed heavily in North Kivu province on Friday as Angola's president pursued diplomatic efforts to bring peace between neighbours Kinshasa and Kigali.

Tensions between DR Congo and Rwanda are at their highest in years, with the DRC accusing its smaller neighbour of backing the M23, charges the Rwandan government denies.

In eastern DRC, locals reported hearing heavy artillery fire around Rugari, in Rutshuru territory, from early morning as the army targeted M23 combatants.

The DRC military had this week deployed Sukhoi-25 jets and Mi-24 helicopters against the M23, a mainly Tutsi Congolese militia.

PEOPLE FLEE FOR SAFETY
The festivities sent more people fleeing for safety, one witness told AFP by telephone from Rumangabo, 10 kilometres (six miles) from Rugari.

"We can hear the sound of the bombing," he said.

Medical sources said at least five civilians, including two children, were killed and 11 maimed in Friday's fighting.

The artillery fire was coming from Kibumba on a main road that runs to the regional capital Goma.

An AFP news hound on the edge of the city saw an army tank and lorry loaded with munitions heading towards the combat zone.

"Fighting continues at Rugari. We are making progress," a security source said.

DORMANT FOR YEARS
But after laying mostly dormant for years, it resumed fighting in 2021, claiming the DRC had failed to honour a pledge to integrate them into the army, among other grievances.

Eastern DRC has been plagued for nearly three decades by gangs, many of them inherited from the wars that bloodied the region in the wake of the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

Angolan President Joao Lourenco was visiting Rwanda on Friday as part of diplomatic efforts to resolve the dispute with the DRC and is due in Kinshasa Saturday.

Kinshasa expelled Rwanda's ambassador at the end of last month, while also recalling its envoy from Kigali.

Lourenco was to hold talks with Rwandan President Paul Kagame "as part of the regional efforts to normalise relations between Rwanda and DR Congo", the ruling party newspaper The New Times said.

The meeting comes on the heels of talks between the countries' two foreign ministers who agreed on Saturday to accelerate efforts to resolve the diplomatic crisis.

Posted by:Fred

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