Eastern DRC: the M23 has reached the strategic military base of Rumangabo
Elements of the FARDC posted at the exit of Goma on the road to Rumangabo (archives).
© Léa-Lisa/RFI
Text by: RFI Follow
3 mins
Fighting between the M23 rebel movement and the Congolese army has been going on for a week now.
The clashes had resumed Thursday, May 19 in the territory of Rutshuru, towards Runyoni.
They have since spread to several localities in the area.
This Thursday,
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Rumangabo is one of the main military camps in North Kivu province.
Its position is tactical, located in the east of Virunga National Park, near the road that connects the towns of Rutshuru and Goma.
Its history is also symbolic: this military base served as the headquarters of the M23 movement during the insurrection from 2012 to 2013.
This Thursday, the rebels again reached this camp, reports our correspondent in Bukavu,
Coralie Pierret
.
"
We recovered weapons before leaving the scene
," said one of the M23 fighters.
“
This group is continuing its harassment and intimidation maneuvers
”, analyzes General Benoit Chavanat, deputy commander of the forces of the United Nations peacekeeping mission.
Since Sunday, May 22, Monusco has been acting jointly with the Congolese army, in response, she says, to the attack on blue helmets by the M23.
Still according to Monusco, these joint operations have stabilized the situation in the areas of Tchanzu and Runyonyi.
Elsewhere the context remains very unstable, particularly in the region of Kibumba, a locality on the border with Rwanda, about twenty kilometers from Goma.
Reciprocal accusations between Rwanda and the DRC
Meanwhile, tensions between Kinshasa and neighboring Kigali are escalating.
On Monday, Rwanda accused the DRC of firing rockets into its territory.
On Wednesday, the FARDC, then the Congolese government responded, accusing Rwanda more or less directly of supporting the M23 rebellion, accusations rejected as a whole by Kigali, indicates our correspondent in Kigali,
Laure Broulard
.
Questioned by RFI, the spokesperson for the Rwandan government Yolande Makolo assures that the conflict between the FARDC and the M23 is strictly intra-Congolese.
According to her, Rwanda is not involved in the fighting, does not want to be involved in it and wishes on the contrary to collaborate with its neighbors to find a lasting solution to the insecurity in the region.
No details, however, on the nature of this solution…
This is not the first time that Kigali has been accused of supporting the M23, a rebellion that was defeated in 2013 before reappearing at the end of 2021 in eastern DRC.
After the group took the city of Goma ten years ago, the UN and the United States denounced Rwandan support for the rebels.
Kigali has always denied as a whole and is responding today with other accusations: according to the government spokesperson, the Congolese army is fighting alongside the FDLR, a group of Rwandan Hutu rebels who have taken refuge in the DRC and are opposed to the regime of Paul Kagame. and created by former genocidaires.
These are accusations also made by the M23 which has declared on several occasions that the FARDC collaborates with the FDLR.
In this context of renewed tensions, Kigali and Kinshasa have both seized the expanded Joint Verification Mechanism, a regional investigation and monitoring mechanism.
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