DRC fighting prompts international calls for a ceasefire
By Linda Bordoni
Panic swept through Bukavu on Saturday as residents scrambled to escape the looming advance of Rwanda-backed rebels. They were reportedly bracing for the chaos and looting that have erupted throughout the militia’s push to gain territory since January 26.
Nearly 3,000 people have been killed in the clashes between the rebels and DRC government forces and some 350,000 have been displaced.
In Bukavu, a city of about 1.3 million people that lies some 100 kilometres south of rebel-held Goma those who couldn’t flee have waited in their homes, shocked by the vacuum left by Congolese soldiers who abandoned their posts.
The M23 rebels are backed by about 4,000 troops from neighbouring Rwanda. They are the most prominent of more than 100 armed groups vying for control of Congo’s mineral-rich east.
This latest push by the M23 encompasses more territory than rebels had previously seized and poses an unprecedented challenge to the central government in Kinshasa.
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference on Friday, DR Congo's President Felix Tshisekedi called for Rwanda to be sanctioned, accusing it of having "expansionist ambitions".
"We will no longer put up with our strategic resources being plundered for the benefit of foreign interests under the complicit gaze of those who feed on chaos," he is quoted as saying.
On his part, Corneille Nangaa, leader of a political-military coalition of groups including the M23, said he seeks to overthrow the government of the DRC and has vowed to march thousands of kilometres from the eastern region to take Congo's capital.
African Union Summit
Meanwhile, the continent's heads of state are meeting for the African Union summit in Ethiopia and the European Union also said it was "urgently" considering all options in response to the widening rebel offensive.
EU appeal
It follows an appeal from the European Parliament, which this week urged the EU to suspend a minerals deal with Rwanda.
Lawmakers in Strasbourg overwhelmingly approved a non-binding resolution on Thursday that also called for the bloc's 27 member states to freeze all direct budget support and military and security assistance to Rwanda.
Human rights violations
The UN refugee agency and the UN Children’s Fund have denounced widespread violations of humanitarian law and horrific abuse of children, whom they say are subjected to rape and recruited by rebel fighters and Congolese soldiers.
(Source: AP and other news agencies)
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