Goma, DR Congo
Thursday, December 19, 2024

The M23 rebels, a Rwandan-backed armed group that has seized vast swathes of territory in eastern DRC since November 2021, gained ground on Monday in the wake of an abortive summit between the Congolese and Rwandan presidents in Luanda.

According to military and local sources, on Sunday the Congolese army lost control of Matembe, a town around 150 km north of Goma, capital of the eastern province of North Kivu.

Following a rapid advance over the past 24 hours, the rebels seized the town of Alimbongo, with its population of over 20,000, some ten kilometers further north in Lubero territory, early on Monday evening.

The Congolese Armed Forces (FARDC) “had to withdraw” after heavy fighting with rebels in Matembe, an army official said on Monday.

Later in the day, another army source said: “We have lost Alimbongo. For the moment, the military are organizing themselves in the surrounding area”.

According to civil society, these attacks in the two localities have provoked an influx of people fleeing the fighting to neighboring villages.

“There is an influx of people following the hostilities between Matembe and Alimbongo”, confirmed the military administrator of Lubero territory, Alain Kiwewa.

The rebellion, which had never made it this far into the north of the region, is now just 50 km from Lubero, the territory’s capital, and around 100 km from the town of Butembo, the region’s major commercial crossroads.

The mineral-rich east of the DRC has been the scene of violence for 30 years. A ceasefire was signed at the end of July, but regular incidents in recent weeks between rebels and Congolese armed forces have already undermined it.

On Sunday, Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi and Rwandan President Paul Kagame were due to meet for a summit organized in Luanda by Angolan head of state Joao Lourenço, the African Union’s (AU) appointed mediator in the conflict between Kigali and Kinshasa.

An agreement “for the restoration of peace and stability in the eastern DRC” was due to be put on the table, but the two parties failed to agree on the terms, leading to the last-minute cancellation of the summit of heads of state.

Half a dozen ceasefires and truces have already been declared and then violated in eastern DRC.

The civilian population continues to suffer.

Humaniterre with AFP