GOMA, DR Congo: The Rwandan-backed armed group M23 moved south as it closed in on a key military airport in DR Congo on Friday, a day after pledging to take the capital Kinshasa and as international criticism mounted.<\/p>\n
The group\u2019s capture of most of Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, earlier in the week was a dramatic escalation in a region that has seen decades of conflict involving multiple armed groups.<\/p>\n
Rwanda says its primary interest is to eradicate fighters linked to the 1994 genocide but is accused of seeking to profit from the region\u2019s reserves of minerals used in global electronics.<\/p>\n
The crisis has rattled the continent and international observers, with a southern African regional bloc holding an emergency summit in Zimbabwe\u2019s capital Harare on Friday.<\/p>\n
M23 fighters are now moving south.<\/p>\n
Local sources said on Thursday that fighting was concentrated some 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the city of Kavumu.<\/p>\n
The city has a strategic military airfield and is where the Congolese army has laid down its defensive line just 40 km north of South Kivu\u2019s provincial capital Bukavu.<\/p>\n
The United Nations warned it was concerned by \u201ccredible reports that the M23 is moving rapidly toward the city of Bukavu.\u201d<\/p>\n
The second biggest city in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo after Goma, Bukavu has a population believed to be around two million.<\/p>\n
The Congolese army has yet to comment on the latest M23 advances but President Felix Tshisekedi said earlier this week that a \u201cvigorous\u201d military response was under way.<\/p>\n
Information about the fast-moving offensive has remained unclear, but so far M23 fighters have met limited resistance from the ill-equipped and poorly paid Congolese forces.<\/p>\n
In Goma, residents have emerged to count the dead and search for food, as hospitals struggled to cope with the wounded.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do not want to live under the thumb of these people,\u201d one person, who asked not to be named, said.<\/p>\n
The United Nations, United States, European Union, China, Britain, France and mediator Angola have all called on Rwanda to withdraw its forces.<\/p>\n
Britain said Thursday it was considering reviewing aid to Rwanda.<\/p>\n
Rwanda has hit back at the criticism, with government spokesperson Yolande Makolo saying the UK did not deliver \u201ca direct warning\u201d about aid.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe international community has its fair share of the blame in the current situation,\u201d she posted on X.<\/p>\n
Rwandan President Paul Kagame also strongly rejected accusations that Kigali is supporting the armed group, saying: \u201cM23 are not Rwandans \u2014 they are Congolese.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Friday, the 16-nation Southern African Development Community will hold an extraordinary meeting to discuss the \u201cworrying situation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kagame and Angolan President Joao Lourenco, the African Union-appointed mediator between Kigali and Kinshasa on the conflict, will not attend.<\/p>\n
The meeting follows soaring tensions between Kagame and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa after the deaths of 13 South African soldiers in DRC\u2019s east.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are ready to defend ourselves if we are attacked by a coalition including South African forces,\u201d Rwandan Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe told South African public broadcaster SABC late Thursday.<\/p>\n
The M23 and Rwandan troops entered Goma on Sunday. During days of intense clashes that killed more than 100 people, the group seized control over much of the city as many Congolese soldiers surrendered or fled.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are in Goma and we will not leave,\u201d Corneille Nangaa, head of a coalition of groups including the M23, said on Thursday.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will continue the march of liberation all the way to Kinshasa,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
The offensive has heightened an already dire humanitarian crisis in the region, causing food and water shortages and forcing half a million people from their homes this month, the UN said.<\/p>\n
Africa\u2019s health agency warned that the \u201cunnecessary war\u201d in eastern DRC \u2014 a hotspot for infectious diseases including mpox \u2014 raised the risk of pandemic.<\/p>\n
The DRC has accused Rwanda of waging an offensive to profit from the region\u2019s mineral wealth.<\/p>\n
A report by UN experts in July supported the claims, finding that Rwanda has thousands of troops in eastern DRC \u2014 and holds \u201cde facto control\u201d over the M23.<\/p>\n
Rwanda has denied the accusations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
GOMA, DR Congo: The Rwandan-backed armed group M23 moved south as it closed in on a key military airport in DR Congo on Friday, a day after pledging to take the capital Kinshasa and as international criticism mounted. The group\u2019s capture of most of Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, earlier in the week […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":458713,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-458702","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n