Congo back in charge of Goma, U.N. fingers Rwanda again
ReutersBy Ed Stoddard | Reuters – 28 minutes ago
GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) - Congo's
government re-established control over the eastern city of Goma on Monday after
rebels withdrew, and U.N. experts made new allegations that Rwandan soldiers
took part in the insurgents' capture of the city.
The M23 rebel movement pulled its fighters out of the
North Kivu provincial capital in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on
Saturday after seizing it from fleeing U.N.-backed government forces and
holding it for 11 days.
But the situation remained tense and uncertain in the
absence of any definitive peace accord to end the eight-month-old insurgency,
which has displaced thousands of civilians in a region that is a tinderbox of
ethnic and political conflict.
In a development likely to stoke diplomatic tensions, a
group of experts tasked by the U.N. Security Council has presented new evidence
alleging M23 received "direct support" from the Rwandan Defence Force
(RDF) to capture Goma on November 20.
The allegations, made in a November 26 letter to the
Security Council, said RDF units operated alongside M23 fighters in the rebels'
advance on Goma. It added that on November 20, "a mixture of M23 and RDF
troops clandestinely entered into Goma from the Rwandan town of Gisenyi through
small streets situated between the town's two official border crossings".
Security Council diplomats confirmed to Reuters the
authenticity of the experts' letter.
Rwanda has strongly and repeatedly rejected previous
allegations made by the same U.N. experts that the Rwandan government has
created, equipped, trained and directly commanded the M23 rebellion in Congo's
North Kivu. Similar accusations against Uganda's government have also been
denied by Kampala.
In Goma on Monday, North Kivu Governor Julien Paluku, who
had left when the rebels took over, and Congolese Interior Minister Richard
Muyej were supervising the resumption of government operations and authority
over the city.
Goma sits among lush green hills around Lake Kivu on the
border with Rwanda and its capture triggered an international diplomatic
scramble to head off any escalation of the fighting.
Under a deal brokered by Uganda days after Goma's fall,
M23 leaders agreed to withdraw to positions 20 km (13 miles) north of the city
after DRC's President Joseph Kabila said he was ready to listen to the rebels'
grievances.
But Muyej said some M23 units were much closer to the
city than had been agreed. "They are in Monigi. It is only 3 or 5 km away.
It is not good," he told Reuters.
M23 spokesman Amani Kabasha told Reuters by telephone
some rebels were in Monigi, which is on the road north to Rutshuru.
But he said the fighters there would form part of an M23
detachment that would join government troops (FARDC) and a neutral
international force to be stationed together at Goma airport - one of the
points agreed in the withdrawal deal.
THOUSANDS HAVE FLED FIGHTING
M23 draws most of its strength from Tutsi former rebels
who had been integrated into Congo's national army but mutinied in April and
started a fresh rebellion.
It has called for talks between Kabila and political
opponents, the release of political prisoners and dissolution of DRC's
electoral commission, which oversaw Kabila's re-election in 2011 in a vote
judged flawed by foreign observers.
Government spokesmen have not confirmed that Kabila is
willing to hold such a wide dialogue, and the president faces pressure from
within his own armed forces, known as the FARDC, to pursue a military solution
against M23.
The November 26 letter from the U.N. experts said that
when M23 began its offensive on Goma "it benefited from direct RDF support
during combat on the frontlines at the village of Kibumba, according to former
RDF officers, FARDC officers and local leaders".
The same sources estimated "well over" 1,000
RDF troops came from Rwanda to assist M23 in these operations, the letter said.
Two days after the rebels' withdrawal, Goma's dusty
streets were busy, with markets selling vegetables and smoked fish, and roads
choked with traffic. But banks remained closed.
Some FARDC soldiers were already back in the city
barracks. They milled around the tents and dilapidated buildings and a few
smoked, sitting on the back of a vehicle.
Goma lies at the heart of Congo's eastern borderlands
which have suffered nearly two decades of conflict stoked by long-standing
ethnic and political enmities and fighting over the region's rich resources of
gold, tin, tungsten and coltan - a precious metal used to make mobile phones.
Successive attacks by rebels, militias and government
soldiers have made the region notorious for mass killings, recruitment of child
soldiers and rape used as a weapon of war.
The U.N. humanitarian agency OCHA said at least 130,000
people were displaced and in sites and camps in and around Goma.
U.N. officials said a camp about 15 km outside Goma had
been raided by unidentified gunmen late on Friday. Several women were raped and
food and supplies stolen.
Thousands more civilians were fleeing attacks by armed
groups which were on the rise in other areas, such as Masisi, U.N. humanitarian
coordinator in DRC, Moustapha Soumare, said.
Neighbouring Rwanda has twice invaded its western
neighbour over the past two decades, at one point igniting a conflict dubbed
"Africa's World War" that drew in several countries.
Aid agencies say more than 5 million people have died
from conflict, hunger or disease in DRC since 1998.
Kigali has justified its interventions by arguing it was
forced to act against Rwandan Hutu fighters who had fled to DRC after the 1994
Rwandan genocide that saw 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus killed by Hutu
soldiers and militia.
Rwanda's military said on Sunday that Rwandan FDLR rebels
crossed the border from DRC and attacked a game warden camp, killing one warden
in what it said was the second raid by the Hutu group in six days.
The M23 rebels said they took up arms over what they call
the government's failure to respect a March 23, 2009 peace deal.
(Additional reporting by Joe Bavier in Abidjan, Louis
Charbonneau in New York, Tom Miles in Geneva; Writing by Pascal Fletcher;
Editing by Louise Ireland)
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