DRC: the M23 resume the offensive and approach Goma
Fighting that took place near Goma, one of the main cities in eastern DRC.
© RFI / Coralie Pierret
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
Fighting between the Congolese army and the M23 rebel movement continued throughout the day on Wednesday 25 May.
Fighting that took place near Goma, one of the main towns in eastern Congo, in an area bordering Rwanda - a country which claimed on Monday that Congolese rocket fire had been fired by the army Congolese on Rwandan soil.
An explosive situation that awakens old traumas.
Advertisement
Read more
With our correspondent in Bukavu,
Coralie Pierret
In his statement on Wednesday, Congolese General Sylvain Ekenge did not expand on geopolitical tensions in the region.
This spokesman simply certified that the loyalist forces had recovered military effects belonging neither to the Congolese army nor to the M23.
So who do they belong to?
Some sources mention the support of the neighboring country, Rwanda, to the M23 rebels.
False, replies the spokesperson for this movement, Major Willy Ngoma.
“
We prepared for 5 years in the heights, but we don't receive support from anyone
,” he says from the front line.
Thousands of people flee the fighting.
They would be around 10,000 in recent days to have hastily left their village in the Kibumba groupement, according to a report by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
These Congolese took the road south towards the city of Goma, fleeing the fighting between the loyalist army and the M23 rebel movement.
Tuesday and Wednesday, part of the confrontations took place about twenty kilometers from Goma.
“
20 shells and bombs have been fired from east to west since Tuesday
,” said Congolese General Sylvain Ekenge, one of the army spokespersons.
"
Some positions were allegedly attacked by fighters from neighboring Rwanda
," adds a source from civil society.
“
Impossible
,” replies M23 spokesman Major Willy Ngoma, who denies any Rwandan support.
Confrontations between the Congolese army and the M23 resumed late last year, after this rebel officer movement had laid down their arms in 2013. At that time, the city of Goma had come
under M23 control
.
►
To read also DRC: Clashes between M23 and FARDC before the resumption of negotiations
Newsletter
Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_EN
ground floor