Latest news with #Bukavu
Al Arabiya
02-07-2025
- Politics
- Al Arabiya
Rwanda exercises command over M23 rebels: UN experts
Rwanda has exercised command and control over M23 rebels during their advance in eastern Congo, gaining political influence and access to mineral-rich territory, according to a confidential report by a group of United Nations experts. The report obtained by Reuters details training which the experts say Rwanda has provided to M23 recruits and military equipment they say Rwanda has deployed - notably 'high-tech systems capable of neutralizing air assets' - to give the rebels 'a decisive tactical advantage' over Congo's beleaguered army. The report was submitted to the UN Security Council sanctions committee for Congo in early May and is due to be published shortly, said diplomats. M23 has advanced in eastern Congo, seizing the region's two largest cities, Goma and Bukavu in January and February. Congo, the United Nations and Western powers say Rwanda is supporting M23 by sending troops and arms. Rwanda has long denied helping M23 and says its forces are acting in self-defence against Congo's army and ethnic Hutu militiamen linked to the 1994 Rwandan genocide, including the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR). The report by the UN experts said Rwanda's military support for M23 was not 'primarily' aimed at addressing threats posed by the FDLR, asserting that Kigali was instead focused on 'conquering additional territories.' Rwanda's UN mission and a government spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report. US President Donald Trump's administration is trying to broker a peace deal between Rwanda and Congo that would bring billions of dollars of Western investment to a region rich in tantalum, gold, cobalt, copper, lithium and other minerals. On Friday the Rwandan and Congolese foreign ministers signed a peace deal in Washington and met with Trump, who warned of 'very severe penalties, financial and otherwise' if the deal is violated. Qatar is hosting a parallel mediation effort with delegations from the Congolese government and M23. The UN report said Rwanda has hosted leaders of a rebel coalition that includes M23 at its Gabiro Training Centre and also used military centers in Nasho and Gako to train M23 recruits. Rwanda also 'drastically increased' the number of Rwandan troops in eastern Congo ahead of M23's advance, according to the experts, who offered 'a conservative estimate of 6,000' Rwandan troops active in Congo's North and South Kivu provinces. The UN experts also accused Rwanda of 'flagrant and systematic violations' of an arms embargo, and said a likely missile attack in January on an armored personnel carrier carrying UN peacekeepers - killing one and injuring four others - appeared to have been fired from a Rwandan military position. An estimated 1,000 to 1,500 Rwandan troops were still active in M23-held territory when the report was drafted, and 'several thousand' remained along the border ready to deploy, said the report, which covers investigations conducted up to April 20. Push for peace M23's military gains earlier this year spurred fears of a wider regional war drawing in Congo's neighbors, and also fueled anxiety over the fate of President Felix Tshisekedi's government. In March M23 travelled as far west as Walikale, an area rich in minerals including tin, putting the rebels within 400 km of Kisangani, Congo's fourth-biggest city. The following month, however, M23 withdrew from Walikale, a decision the experts said was 'taken following direct instruction from the Government of Rwanda, once again confirming Rwanda's command and control' over rebel operations. 'This included strategic-level decision-making on whether to seize, hold, or relinquish territory, thereby demonstrating overall operational coordination and hierarchical subordination,' the report said. The experts also accused Congo of relying on the FDLR and pro-government militia fighters known as Wazalendo, offering them money and logistics in violation of a sanctions regime.
News.com.au
30-06-2025
- Politics
- News.com.au
Peace deal with Rwanda opens way to 'new era', says DR Congo president
A peace deal between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda aimed at ending decades of conflict in eastern DRC paves the way for "a new era of stability", Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi said Monday. Rich in natural resources, especially lucrative minerals, the vast DRC's east has been plagued by deadly violence that has ravaged the region for three decades. Fighting intensified early this year when the Rwanda-backed M23 armed group seized territory including the key cities of Goma in late January and Bukavu several weeks later. The lightning offensive in the east on Rwanda's border left thousands dead and deepened a humanitarian crisis for hundreds of thousands of displaced people, according to the DRC government and UN. After a series of systematically broken truces and ceasefires in recent years and the failure of several attempts at negotiation between Kinshasa and Kigali, Congolese and Rwandan foreign ministers inked a peace deal in Washington on Friday. A parallel, Doha-led mediation bid between the DRC government and the M23 is also ongoing. A representative from Qatar attended Friday's signature of the agreement, described as a significant milestone towards peace by the African Union and the United Nations. The text "opens the way to a new era of stability, cooperation and prosperity for our nation," Tshisekedi said in a speech broadcast Monday to mark the 65th anniversary of DRC's independence from Belgium. - Won't 'sell off' interests - Tshisekedi is due to meet his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame in Washington in the coming weeks. The agreement outlines provisions for the "respect for territorial integrity and halting hosilities" in eastern DRC but are still to be implemented. It calls for "a lifting of defensive measures" by Rwanda, or the withdrawal of Rwandan soldiers from the DRC. Rwanda has denied directly supporting the M23 but has demanded an end to another armed group which it says threatens the country -- the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), which was established by ethnic Hutus linked to the massacres of Tutsis in the 1994 Rwanda genocide. The agreement calls for the "neutralisation" of the FDLR by Kinshasa. It also includes economic measures but has few details. In April, the Congolese president discussed a mining agreement with Massad Boulos, a Lebanese-American businessman and father-in-law of Trump's daughter Tiffany tapped by the president as a senior advisor on Africa. A "regional economic integration framework" aimed at greater transparency in the supply chains of critical minerals is also foreseen under the deal. Kinshasa will not "sell off any of the DRC's interests," the Congolese government spokesman Patrick Muyaya said on the margins of an economic forum in Osaka, Japan, on Saturday. The DRC is the world's leading producer of cobalt and has deposits of gold and other valuable minerals including coltan, a metallic ore that is vital in making phones and laptops. "This deal is not just a document, it is a promise of peace for the people" affected by the conflict in the eastern DRC, Tshisekedi said. The text -- negotiated through Qatar since before Trump took office -- does not explicitly address territorial gains by the M23 anti-government group. The M23, like the pro-Kinshasa militias it is fighting, has never officially recognised previous ceasefires. The front in eastern DRC has stabilised since February. But conflict continues between M23 fighters and myriad local militias which carry out guerrilla tactics. Corneille Nangaa, coordinator of the political-military Congo River Alliance to which the M23 belongs, dismissed in a statement Monday the Washington agreement as "limited" and accused Kinshasa of "systematically" undermining the Doha mediation process.
BBC News
28-06-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Scepticism in Goma over peace deal between DR Congo and Rwanda
The signing of a peace agreement between the governments of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda in Washington has elicited mixed reactions, with the former Congolese president, Joseph Kabila, describing it as "nothing more than a trade agreement".The deal signed on Friday demanded the "disengagement, disarmament and conditional integration" of armed groups fighting in eastern DR Congo - but offered few other details. While some, including Kabila, have been critical, others have hailed the agreement as a turning point in a devastating conflict that has dragged on for has denied allegations it backs an armed group, known as M23, which has been fighting in the eastern DR Congo. The conflict escalated earlier this year when M23 rebels seized control of large parts of eastern DR Congo, including the regional capital, Goma, the city of Bukavu and two of people have been killed and hundreds of thousands of civilians forced from their homes following the recent rebel the loss of territory, DR Congo's government turned to the US for help, reportedly offering access to critical minerals in exchange for security guarantees. Eastern DR Congo is rich in coltan and other resources vital to the global electronics the fighting in DR Congo all about?Ceasefire deal still faces many challengesIn a post on X following the signing of the agreement on Friday, Kabila questioned the choice of the deal's participants, saying the DR Congo was not at war with the states depicted in a photo of the signing, which included President Donald Trump and other US officials, as well as Rwanda's foreign is not entirely clear if his comments were an indirect criticism of the absence of M23 representatives in Washington."We must stop distorting the facts to disguise a propaganda agenda," Kabila said, adding "Congolese people deserve the truth, not a diplomatic show".The absence of M23 representatives was also noted in the rebel-held city of Goma in eastern DR Congo. "How can they say they sign for peace, yet they have not involved M23?" a resident questioned, adding the rebels ought to have been included in the talks for "collective peace" to be resident, a commercial motorbike rider told the BBC "people are tired, they are not interested in talks", insisting "all they want is peace".He argued previous peace talks and agreements were not endorsed or implemented by the conflicting parties, leaving little hope for a return to Sam Zarifi, executive director at Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), an international NGO that has worked in the DRC for more than a decade, said the Washington-brokered agreement is replete with "major omissions"."There can be no durable peace without meaningful justice. But the human rights and fails survivors," Mr Zarifi added: "The agreement overlooks how hostilities can continue through proxy armed groups that our research has shown are responsible for serious violations."Stephanie Marungu, head of a humanitarian organisation in Goma, was more positive. "The signing of the deal…is a momentous and hopeful development for the eastern region," she told the BBC, adding it could "lead to increased stability and it's going to make it easier for us to deliver aid and access those in need". However, she acknowledges there may be challenges in implementing the deal."If the agreement is what will bring peace we have no problems," another Goma resident remains to be seen what the situation on the ground will be going forward, with concerns the Washington deal may simply enrich a few people with the country's mineral resources to the detriment of ordinary people.
CTV News
24-06-2025
- CTV News
Congolese soldier kills 3 colleagues during altercation in the conflict-hit east
BUKAVU, Congo — A Congolese soldier shot and killed two of his colleagues while a third died of critical injuries in an altercation in the country's east that left others wounded, local officials said Tuesday. The soldiers in Mungazi in the province of North Kivu, a town close to the frontline of the military's fight with Rwanda-backed M23 rebels, had recently received their paycheques when an argument escalated into violence late Monday evening, according to Fiston Misona Tabashile, president of the civil society of Walikale, the area's principal town. Maj. Nestor Mavudisa, Congolese military spokesperson, said eight wounded soldiers were being treated, adding that those involved in the altercation would be punished. 'The perpetrators have been apprehended and are in custody,' said Mavudisa, urging locals to 'go about their business freely.' Jean Kokwe, a local miner, said many thought M23 rebels were behind the shooting. 'It was only afterward that some people who were there told us that it was Congolese military soldiers who had received their pay,' he said. M23 is one of about 100 armed groups that have been vying for a foothold in mineral-rich eastern Congo near the border with Rwanda, in a conflict that has created one of the world's most significant humanitarian crises. Congo's military is overstretched in its fight against M23 rebels in the east.
Associated Press
24-06-2025
- Associated Press
Congolese soldier kills 3 colleagues during altercation in the conflict-hit east
BUKAVU, Congo (AP) — A Congolese soldier shot and killed two of his colleagues while a third died of critical injuries in an altercation in the country's east that left others wounded, local officials said Tuesday. The soldiers in Mungazi in the province of North Kivu, a town close to the frontline of the military's fight with Rwanda-backed M23 rebels, had recently received their paychecks when an argument escalated into violence late Monday evening, according to Fiston Misona Tabashile, president of the civil society of Walikale, the area's principal town. Maj. Nestor Mavudisa, Congolese military spokesperson, said eight wounded soldiers were being treated, adding that those involved in the altercation would be punished. 'The perpetrators have been apprehended and are in custody,' said Mavudisa, urging locals to 'go about their business freely.' Jean Kokwe, a local miner, said many thought M23 rebels were behind the shooting. 'It was only afterward that some people who were there told us that it was Congolese military soldiers who had received their pay,' he said. M23 is one of about 100 armed groups that have been vying for a foothold in mineral-rich eastern Congo near the border with Rwanda, in a conflict that has created one of the world's most significant humanitarian crises. Congo's military is overstretched in its fight against M23 rebels in the east.
