DRC: the branch of the M23 known as "Makenga" excluded from the Nairobi dialogue

A member of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC) in North Kivu.

(illustrative image) MONUSCO/Abel Kavanagh

Text by: RFI Follow

3 mins

The Congolese presidency announces that it has excluded the main branch of the M23 from the Nairobi consultations.

Kinshasa and the rebel movement accuse each other of the resumption of hostilities observed this Saturday, April 23 in Rutshuru in North Kivu.

And this, while the other armed groups supposed to take part in the Nairobi discussions are still expected. 

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The news of the resumption of hostilities fell in the middle of the afternoon.

And threw a chill in Nairobi, explains our correspondent in the Kenyan capital,

.

In the process, the Congolese government – ​​which accuses the M23 of having attacked its army – says it “ 

” the expulsion from the consultation process of the M23 branch known as M23/Makenga.

Precisely from its two delegates, the executive secretary of the movement Benjamin Mbonimpa, and Lawrence Kaniyuka, in charge of foreign affairs.

The M23 denies this version and claims to have acted in self-defense.

" 

" accuses the spokesman of the movement.

Be that as it may, it is a blow to the consultation process announced Thursday at the end of the EAC summit and which had just started timidly.

After Friday's missed meeting, and while waiting for the other invited armed groups - the list of which has not been made public - to arrive, the committee overseeing the discussions decided on Saturday morning to hold a first meeting with the delegates already present in Nairobi: namely Jean-Marie Runiga, representative of a branch of the dissident M23 who took refuge in Rwanda in 2013 and the delegation of the M23 known as "Makenga", the branch active in eastern Congo today, and whose Kinshasa therefore announces the exclusion. 

Resumption of hostilities in Rutshuru territory

The fighting between this rebel movement and the FARDC therefore resumed on Saturday after nearly two weeks of calm observed in the area, underlines our correspondent in Kinshasa,

.

The shooting began around 3 p.m. local time in the Jomba groupement, Rutshuru territory, in North Kivu.

The first bullet crackles were located at the bottom of Bugusa hill, near the Catholic parish of Jomba, the largest place of worship for Catholic worshipers in the area.

Other shots were heard towards the city of Chengerero.

This town had already been conquered by M23 fighters at the end of March before being taken over by the regular forces.

According to army sources, it was the M23 fighters who launched the hostilities by attacking its positions in the midst of a truce decided because of the Nairobi dialogue.

What denies this movement which rejects the responsibility with the FARDC which it accuses to be at the origin of the first shootings.

The M23 explains the deployment of its forces, by the desire, he says, to secure positions.

On the ground, the civilian populations, who were already returning to their homes following the calm observed in recent days, are forced to desert the area again.

Some of them even crossed the Ugandan border again.

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