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 japanese Congo, Congo’s authorities mentioned Sunday, as M23 rebels positioned themselves on the governor’s workplace in Bukavu and pledged to wash up after the “old 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 folks they seized final month.
The rebels noticed little resistance from authorities forces in opposition to 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 folks, however there was no signal of troopers. Many have been seen fleeing on Saturday alongside hundreds of civilians.
The M23 are essentially the most distinguished of greater than 100 armed teams vying for management of japanese Congo’s trillions of {dollars} in mineral wealth that is vital for a lot of the world’s know-how. The rebels are supported by about 4,000 troops from neighboring Rwanda, in response to the United Nations consultants.
The combating has displaced greater than 6 million folks 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 informed residents they’ve been dwelling in a “jungle.”
“We are going to clean up the disorder left over from the old regime,” Byamungu mentioned, as some within the small crowd of younger males cheered the rebels on to “go all the 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 an announcement on social media acknowledged for the primary time that Bukavu had been “occupied” and mentioned the nationwide authorities was “doing everything possible to restore order and territorial integrity” within the area.
One Bukavu resident, Blaise Byamungu, mentioned the rebels marched into the town that had been “abandoned by all the authorities and without any loyalist force.”
“Is the government waiting for them to take over other towns to take action? It’s cowardice,” Byamungu added.
Fears of regional escalation
Not like 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 answerable 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 “fully integrated” into the Congolese army, which denies it.
However the brand new face of the M23 within the area — Corneille Nangaa — shouldn’t be Tutsi, giving the group “a new, more diverse, Congolese face, as M23 has always been seen as a Rwanda-backed armed group defending Tutsi minorities,” in response to Christian Moleka, a political scientist on the Congolese suppose 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 counsel 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-Common António Guterres warning it risked spiraling right into a regional conflagration.
Nonetheless, African leaders and the worldwide neighborhood have been reluctant to take decisive motion in opposition to 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 folks of Bukavu.
“We call on the population to remain in control of their city and not give in to panic,” alliance spokesperson Lawrence Kanyuka mentioned in an announcement Saturday.
