KINSHASA, (Xinhua): At least 51 rebels of the March 23 movement (M23) were killed in the ongoing clash in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), after the government reported 120 of its members dead, according to a local source.
March 2013
he March 23 movement (M23) rebels have routed fighters loyal to renegade General Bosco Ntaganda and regained control of all of the group’s territory in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
On Saturday, sources in the United Nations and the M23 rebel group said that hundreds of Ntaganda men have fled into Rwanda or surrendered to UN peacekeepers after being defeated by the M23 rebels.
The fighting broke out on February 28 after M23 military chief Sultani Makenga sacked the group’s political leader, Jean-Marie Runiga, for his alleged links with Ntaganda, prompting fighters to turn their weapons on each other. Runiga, along with his many loyalists, joined the Ntaganda faction.
nov 2012
Several armed groups, including the M23 rebels, are active in the east of the DRC and fighting for control of the country’s vast mineral resources, such as gold, the main tin ore cassiterite, and coltan (columbite-tantalite), which is used to make many electronic devices, including cell phones.
The M23 rebels seized Goma on November 20, 2012 after UN peacekeepers gave up the battle for the frontier city of one million people. M23 fighters withdrew from the city on December 1, 2012 under a ceasefire accord.
http://www.latimes.com/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-congo-m23-rebels-vow-to-disband-20131105,0,4783973.story#axzz2jnEKbnAA
M23, an ethnic Tutsi militia, has been led and armed by Rwandan forces who often crossed into Congo, according to a report by experts who advise the United Nations. It is the successor to other Tutsi militias in the region with close ties to Rwanda.
Congolese army forces have also been implicated in past abuses, as have the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, or FDLR, an ethnic Hutu militia that includes some leaders of the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
there was no place for armed militias in the region. He cited groups such as the FDLR, Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army and the Allied Democratic Forces, another Ugandan rebel group.
On 20 November, M23 rebels took control of
Goma, a provincial capital with a population of one million people.
[18] By the end of November, the conflict has forced more than 140,000 people to flee their homes, according to the U.N. refugee agency, on top of those already forced from their homes by previous rounds of fighting in the region.
[19] After repelling an ill-organized government counterattack and making some further gains, M23 agreed to withdraw from Goma on their own and left the city in early December.
On 24 February 2013, eleven African nations signed an agreement designed to bring peace to the region. In October, Congo said told the UN that the movement was virtually finished after being pushed back to a small area near Rwanda. On 5 November 2013, following significant defeats
By Godfrey Olukya 10-7-2012
Armed groups fighting government troops in Kivu Province have joined hands in a bid to force a major break away from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The rebel groups include, Pareco, led by Colonel Albert Kahasha, CNDP, M23 and the union of Congolese for the defense of Democracy.
All this comes when a mutiny led by warlord Gen. Bosco Ntaganda is going on leading to thousands of Congolese refugees fleeing to neighboring countries.
Reports from Congo indicate that the collectively agitating for breaking away and are led by Colonel Albert Kahasha.
‘The groups are seeking territorial independence. There are all indications that they want to become independent. They say that they will soon announce a government separate from the Kinshasa leadership.’ said a Congolese elder, Lovi Mbanga who has escaped to Rwanda
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