The rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Sunday entered the vital trading center of Bukava in the east of the country, according to fighters and videos circulating locals. If confirmed, the noise would be the latest city that fell in an offensive that revealed the weakness of the decaying congole army.
AND M23 rebels – supported and directed by Rwanda, a much smaller neighbor of Congo – it seemed not to be fulfilled, residents said, as they went to Bukava, a provincial capital, which is the main center for trading and smuggling gold.
“We are there, we are there in Bukavu,” Willy Ngoma said, a spokesman for the M23 on the phone.
On Sunday, the rebels were addressed by crowds in Bukava Square after entering the city in Dugi, quiet columns, according to three eyewitnesses and videos divided into social media and confirmed the Times. Eyewitnesses have sought anonymity for fear of retaliation from the armed group.
Days earlier, Congoon soldiers fled the city in similar columns. The Congoic government did not speak publicly about the situation in the city on Sunday, and the capture of Bukavua was not confirmed on its own.
The obvious fall of bukavu would be in a sharp opposite with A long -lasting battle for the key city of Goma Last month, in which nearly 3000 people were killed, according to the United Nations.
With the capture of Bukavu, the city of more than a million people sitting on the edge of the crystal lake, the M23 rebels would now control the two largest trading centers in the east with a rich conscience mineral.
Experts say Bukav’s capture threatens to draw more neighboring countries into the conflict. The city sits 20 miles from the border with Burundi, whose troops struggled along with the Congolian army.
“This will increase the risk of regional war, especially with Burundi,” said Fred Bauma, Executive Director of Ebutelija, research groups specializing in Congo, for the fall of Bukavu.
Now the M23 is also directly related to its powerful support, Rwanda. Bukava and Goma, in the southern and northern edge of the widespread Lake Kivo, both sit on the border with Rwanda, whose exports of minerals have been smuggled from Kong in recent years, states UN experts.
President Paul Kagama of Rwanda admitted that Rwanda soldiers were present in Eastern Congo, but denied supporting the M23.
M23 leaders have now vowed to march in the capital of Kinshas, Kong and one of the largest African cities. The Congenian government refused to sit with the M23 or Rwanda leaders, and his military response in the field was limited.
The M23 is the most powerful of dozens of armed groups that have destabilized the Eastern Congo for almost three decades. Ever since they captured Goma, the rebels have vowed to bring back their turn and security – trying to present the group as administrative power sufficiently qualified to manage the large parts of one of the richest mining regions of Africa.
“It is important that we can work a hand in hand for the development of our country,” said Bernard Byamong, a senior M23 official, said Bukavu residents on Sunday, according to a video confirmed by The Times. “There is no development without a job, but let’s not forget that peace remains fundamental to a stable nation.”
Mr. Byamong then ordered the residents to return home so that the M23 could finish the insurance of the city.
The calls of the group to peace clashed with the bloody M23 tactics on the field. M23 has repeatedly violated tributaries, including some he unilaterally declared. Mr. Byamung, according to United Nationsplanned and directed the murders of civilians and out -of -court executions of soldiers.
Unlike Goma, the apparent capture of Bukavu was a hard surprise: there schools closed at the beginning of this month, and countless people have escaped in recent weeks in anticipation of the M23 offensive.
The M23 rebels entered Bukav on Sunday days after they said they had trapped Near the airport used by the Kongovo army as a key rear base to try to restrain the progress of the group in the province of the southern Kiva.
The latest offensive of the M23, which began in early January, further destabilized the Eastern Congo, a region rich in minerals, a scar with almost three decades of conflict over access to land and gold, tin and cobalt, among other minerals.
More than 500,000 people were displaced last month, according to United Nations. The number of rapes against children who have performed armed groups, already widespread in the region, has increased in recent weeksAccording to UNICEF.
Ruth Maclean Contribution to the reporting from Dakar, Senegal.
