The M23 Rebel Group, with the invaluable support of the Rwanda Army, continues with its advance in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo without finding resistance. In a matter of two weeks, the two capitals of the regions of Kivu Norte and Kivu Sur, Goma and Bukavu have been made respectively, cities that total more than 3.5 million inhabitants.
At its entrance to Bukavu, it has faced less resistance than in rubber, where some 3,000 people died in the offensive and 700,000 had to flee from the area.
Although there are no official data, the UN has denounced the death of three children between eleven and fifteen years, as reported by the spokeswoman for the United Nations Human Rights Office, Ravina Shamdasani. “We are also documenting cases of ill -treatment, sexual and gender violence related to conflict, childhood and forced recruitment, intimidation and death threats,” said the spokesman.
In addition, at least 150,000 people have fled in Kivu Sur before the progress of the M23, which elevates almost one million displaced by the rebel offensive in less than a month. “The crisis is worse as people flee to areas where humanitarian aid cannot arrive due to insecurity,” the UN spokesman for refugees (UNHCR), Eujin Byun recently regretted.
The Organization Doctors Without Borders He reported Thursday that one of its workers and a child have been seriously injured by the bullets that reached their center of Masisi, in Kivu Norte, where the attacks of government forces continue in a timely manner to try to recover their positions. In addition, the NGO ensures that it served 48 people with gunshot wounds in Bukavu, which total a total of 315 throughout the province of Kivu Sur, and expressed concern about possible outbreaks of infectious diseases such as cholera.
After entering Bukavu, the leader of the M23, Corneille Nanga, reiterated the threat of reaching the Kinsasa capital and deposing the government of President Félix Tshisekedi, if he does not sit at the table to negotiate a peace: “We are going for liberation Total of the Congolese people, ”said the rebel leader.
On Tuesday, the insurgents arrived unanswered to Kamanyola and began to unleash the panic in Uvira, the next big city on their way, 80 kilometers away and with more than 700,000 inhabitants. In that city, the neighbors reported on Wednesday shooting between soldiers of the RDC and the Allied group of Self -Defense Wazaleo for disagreements about how they are facing the unstoppable M23.
An offensive with regional implications
The arrival in Uvira could involve new regional dimensions. The city is only 25 kilometers from Buyumbura, capital of Burundi, located on the other side of the Tanganical Lake, located between the RDC and Burundi and other countries. The Rwanda Government is the enemy of Burundi, led by Evariste Ndayishimye, who accused his Ruandés, Paul Kagame, apply an “expansionist” plan in the region at the “annexation of neighboring territory” at the beginning of the month.
At the moment, no indication suggests that the M23 could enter Burundi seeking to reach its capital, but the 10,000 burly soldiers deployed in support of the RDC have retired to their country, after being unable to protect the Kavumu airport, On the outskirts of Bukavu, before the arrival of the rebels. In addition, it has been reported that at least 500 Congolese soldiers would also have crossed the border to take refuge in Burundi, as well as more than 40,000 civilians, according to UNHCR data. Refugees “arrive in very bad condition,” according to UNHCR, and “on many occasions they have already been displaced internal in several RDC sites before arriving in Burundi.”
The level of anxiety for the M23 offensive is such that 1,600 kilometers away, in Kinsasa, some foreign embassies are beginning to move their staff in armored vehicles and transferring some to the other side of the border to Brazzoville, capital of the Neighbor Republic of Congo.
The unstoppable advance of the rebels has generated rumors in the capital of an uprising against the Tshisekedi Executive, who refuses to sit down to negotiate with the armed group and asks to do it directly with the Ruandés government that, in turn, denies any direct involvement In the conflict. The president of the RDC denied the fall of Bukavu, when it had already occurred throughout the weekend, and then admit, which denoted his lack of control over the situation and placed him in a position of weakness.
The government has denied any rumor with a coup d’etat and has asked not to give rise to the “misinformation” that the country intends to weaken. “President Tshisekedi was chosen by the Congolese people for a five -year mandate. We will not accept any coup d’etat that involves the Ruandés army to destabilize the country’s institutions, legally and legitimately established ”, The Minister of Justice said on the social networkConstant Mutamba.
At the moment, the requests of the RDC so that the Rwanda partners press the country has not raised the desired effect. Kinsasa accused the Arsenal football teams, Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich to wear “blood stained” shirts because in them the tourist logo appeared Visit Rwandabut none has canceled the agreement with Rwanda and only representatives of the Muniqués team said they will send delegates to Kigali to monitor the situation. For its part, the Ruandés government has said that those pressures threaten to create a regional war.
In the last week, the pressure on Kigali has increased. On Thursday, the United States Treasury Department He issued sanctions against James Kabarebe, Minister of State of Rwanda, whom he accuses of controlling the resource of minerals to finance the M23. Days before, Belgium denounced that Rwanda was attacking the territorial integrity of the RDC and the United Kingdom Labor Government called the Rwanda High Commissioner, the highest diplomatic representative of the country to London.
Kigali’s answer has been very different: he has unilaterally decided to suspend his cooperation agreement with Belgium, accusing the country of allying with the RDC; while he has only “lamented” in a statement the words of the British government, as well as with the United States, whose sanctions described as “Unjustified” without adopting more measures.
The change of government in London in July 2024 paralyzed the agreement to send to migrants who arrived in the United Kingdom irregularly to Rwanda, in exchange for more than 600 million euros, of which half had already been disbursed despite Not any migrant to Kigali arrived yet. 40% of the annual budget of the Ruandés government comes from the nearly 1.3 billion dollars of development aid it receives from its international partners.
#Anxiety #displacement #unstoppable #advance #M23 #east #Democratic #Republic #Congo
