M23 rebels enter the centre of east Congo’s second-largest metropolis, Bukavu, and take management of the South Kivu province administrative workplace, Sunday, Feb. 16, 2025.
Janvier Barhahiga/AP
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Janvier Barhahiga/AP
BUKAVU, Congo — Rwanda-backed rebels have “occupied” a second main metropolis in mineral-rich jap Congo, Congo’s authorities mentioned Sunday, as M23 rebels positioned themselves on the governor’s workplace in Bukavu and pledged to scrub up after the “outdated regime.”
Related Press journalists witnessed scores of residents cheering on the rebels after they entered Bukavu following a dayslong march from Goma, a metropolis of two million individuals they seized final month.
The rebels noticed little resistance from authorities forces towards the unprecedented growth of their attain after their years of combating. Congo’s authorities vowed to revive order in Bukavu, a metropolis of 1.3 million individuals, however there was no signal of troopers. Many have been seen fleeing on Saturday alongside hundreds of civilians.
The M23 are essentially the most outstanding of greater than 100 armed teams vying for management of jap Congo’s trillions of {dollars} in mineral wealth that is vital for a lot of the world’s expertise. The rebels are supported by about 4,000 troops from neighboring Rwanda, in response to the United Nations specialists.
The combating has displaced greater than 6 million individuals within the area, creating the world’s largest humanitarian disaster.
Rebels vow to ‘clear up’ dysfunction
Bernard Maheshe Byamungu, one of many M23 leaders who has been sanctioned by the U.N. Safety Council for rights abuses, stood in entrance of the South Kivu governor’s workplace in Bukavu and advised residents they’ve been residing in a “jungle.”
“We’re going to clear up the dysfunction left over from the outdated regime,” Byamungu mentioned, as some within the small crowd of younger males cheered the rebels on to “go all the best way to Kinshasa,” Congo’s capital, almost 1,000 miles away.
The M23 didn’t announce any seizure of Bukavu, not like its announcement when taking Goma, which had introduced swift worldwide condemnation. Spokesmen for the M23 did not reply to questions Sunday.
Congo’s communications ministry in a press release on social media acknowledged for the primary time that Bukavu had been “occupied” and mentioned the nationwide authorities was “doing every part doable to revive order and territorial integrity” within the area.
One Bukavu resident, Blaise Byamungu, mentioned the rebels marched into the town that had been “deserted by all of the authorities and with none loyalist power.”
“Is the federal government ready for them to take over different cities to take motion? It is cowardice,” Byamungu added.
Fears of regional escalation
In contrast to in 2012, when the M23 briefly seized Goma and withdrew after worldwide strain, analysts have mentioned the rebels this time are eyeing political energy.
The combating in Congo has connections with a decadeslong ethnic battle. The M23 says it’s defending ethnic Tutsis in Congo. Rwanda has claimed the Tutsis are being persecuted by Hutus and former militias liable for the 1994 genocide of 800,000 Tutsis and others in Rwanda. Many Hutus fled to Congo after the genocide and based the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda militia group.
Rwanda says the militia group is “absolutely built-in” into the Congolese army, which denies it.
However the brand new face of the M23 within the area — Corneille Nangaa — isn’t Tutsi, giving the group “a brand new, extra numerous, Congolese face, as M23 has all the time been seen as a Rwanda-backed armed group defending Tutsi minorities,” in response to Christian Moleka, a political scientist on the Congolese assume tank Dypol.
Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi, whose authorities on Saturday asserted that Bukavu remained underneath its management, has warned of the chance of a regional growth of the battle.
Congo’s forces have been being supported in Goma by troops from South Africa and in Bukavu by troops from Burundi. However Burundi’s president, Evariste Ndayishimiye, appeared to recommend on social media his nation wouldn’t retaliate within the combating.
The battle was excessive on the African Union summit’s agenda in Ethiopia over the weekend, with U.N. Secretary-Normal António Guterres warning it risked spiraling right into a regional conflagration.
Nonetheless, African leaders and the worldwide group have been reluctant to take decisive motion towards M23 or Rwanda, which has certainly one of Africa’s strongest militaries. Most proceed to name for a ceasefire and a dialogue between Congo and the rebels.
The Congo River Alliance, a coalition of insurgent teams that features the M23, has mentioned it was dedicated to “defending” the individuals of Bukavu.
“We name on the inhabitants to stay in command of their metropolis and never give in to panic,” alliance spokesperson Lawrence Kanyuka mentioned in a press release Saturday.
