NEW YORK: M23 fighters advanced on several fronts in DR Congo’s volatile east as the UN Security Council, for the first time, called on Rwanda to stop backing the armed group and halt the bloodshed.
The M23 movement, supported by some 4,000 Rwandan soldiers, according to UN experts, now controls large swaths of the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, a troubled region rich in natural resources.
Its rapid advance has sent thousands fleeing.
Fighters took control of the South Kivu provincial capital, Bukavu, last Sunday, weeks after capturing Goma, the capital of North Kivu and the main city in the country’s east.
Friday’s unanimously adopted UN Security Council resolution “strongly condemns the ongoing offensive and advances of the M23 in North Kivu and South Kivu with the support of the Rwanda Defense Forces.”
It also “calls on the Rwanda Defense Forces to cease support to the M23 and immediately withdraw from DRC territory without preconditions.”
The Security Council had previously called for an “immediate and unconditional ceasefire” by all parties, but on Friday, all countries, including the three African members, pointed the finger at Kigali.
Recent gains have given M23 control of Lake Kivu following its lightning offensive in the east. According to the UN, the latest fighting has led to an exodus of more than 50,000 Congolese to Burundi, Uganda, and other countries.
The EU on Friday summoned Rwanda’s ambassador to demand Kigali pull out troops from the country and stop backing the armed group.
In a call with Kenyan President William Ruto, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called for an immediate ceasefire, saying there was “no military solution to the conflict,” according to a State Department spokesperson.
Since the fall of Bukavu, the Congolese armed forces have been retreating without offering significant resistance.
“Almost no Congolese soldiers are fighting,” an observer said Friday, adding that the “only ones still fighting are the Wazalendo” pro-Kinshasa militia.
The North Kivu city of Masisi and its surroundings “are the scene of almost daily clashes” between the M23 and Wazalendo, medical charity Doctors Without Borders said.
The M23 is now moving toward the town of Uvira near the Burundi border on the northwestern tip of Lake Tanganyika — the main exit route for fleeing Congolese soldiers.
A source in Uvira’s municipality said Friday the military commander had taken “measures to secure the population and their property, adding that “undisciplined elements had been arrested.”
Residents said that Uvira was engulfed in chaos, with hundreds of soldiers and their families crossing the town on foot to reach the port.
At least 423 inmates from Uvira prison have escaped, and armed men robbed the bishop.
On the northern front, which has been relatively stable since December, M23 fighters are just 14 km from Lubero, a strategic town. Some Congolese soldiers have fled Lubero, but others were seen looting shops, according to local sources.
“The Congolese soldiers we met along the way robbed us of our phones, money, and other belongings,” said Aline Nyota, a displaced person who left Lubero to go further north.
“If you hesitate, they shoot.”
The Congolese army spokesman in the region urged fleeing soldiers to return “to their authorities” and to “avoid looting, extortion and rape.”
Traders in central Lubero have removed their goods, and schools are closed. A relative calm returned on Thursday evening with the intervention of Ugandan troops deployed in the region as part of a joint operation with the Congolese army.
Analysts have questioned how the Ugandan army would react if it were to encounter M23 fighters.
UN experts accuse Kampala of maintaining relations with the M23 while seeking to protect its influence in the area.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni on Friday denied his troops intended to fight the M23.
