ADDIS ABABA: UN chief Antonio Guterres on Saturday demanded that the Democratic Republic of Congo\u2019s \u201cterritorial integrity\u201d be respected and a regional war avoided, at an African summit the day after Rwandan-backed fighters seized a second DRC provincial capital.
\nWith international pressure mounting on Rwanda to curb the fighting in eastern DR Congo (DRC), the conflict was set to dominate the African Union summit as it opened in Addis Ababa.
\nRwanda\u2019s President Paul Kagame was seen attending meetings at the gathering, but DR Congo\u2019s president Felix Tshisekedi was absent from the summit as the M23 advanced through his country\u2019s territory.
\nHaving routed the Congolese army to capture the key provincial capital of Goma in North Kivu last month, the Rwandan-backed armed group pushed into neighboring South Kivu.
\nIt took a vital airport there before marching virtually unchecked into another key city, Bukavu, on Friday, security and humanitarian sources said.
\n\u201cThe fighting that is raging in South Kivu \u2014 as a result of the continuation of the M23 offensive \u2014 threatens to push the entire region over the precipice,\u201d Guterres told leaders in an address to the summit, without mentioning Rwanda.
\n\u201cRegional escalation must be avoided at all costs. There is no military solution,\u201d he added.
\n\u201cThe dialogue must begin. And the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the DRC must be respected.\u201d<\/p>\n
With the spectre of a regional conflagration rising in eastern DRC, the AU has been criticized for its timid approach and observers have demanded more decisive action.
\nThe European Union on Saturday said that it was \u201curgently\u201d considering all options following the news from Bukavu.
\n\u201cThe ongoing violation of the DRC\u2019s territorial integrity will not go unanswered,\u201d it warned.
\nEast and southern African leaders on February 8 called for an \u201cimmediate and unconditional\u201d ceasefire within five days, but fresh fighting erupted on Tuesday.
\nOutgoing AU commission chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat told AFP on Friday that there was a \u201cgeneral mobilization\u201d among African nations to stop the clashes.
\nSummit host Abiy Ahmed, Ethiopia\u2019s prime minister, insisted on Saturday that \u201cconflict resolution, diplomacy and peace building must remain at the heart of our efforts.\u201d
\nA meeting of the AU\u2019s Peace and Security Council dedicated to the conflict ran late into the evening on Friday, with neither Kagame nor Tshisekedi attending.
\nA government source told AFP that Tshisekedi would not attend the summit over the weekend either as he had to \u201cclosely follow the situation on the ground in DRC.\u201d
\nAFP journalists in Bukavu reported sporadic gunfire there on Saturday, with the streets deserted as residents sheltered inside after reports of overnight looting.
\nAcross the nearby border in Rwanda, AFP reporters in the town of Rusizi said on Saturday that the situation was calm but some gunshots could be heard.
\nTshisekedi, speaking at the Munich Security Conference on Friday, urged nations to \u201cblacklist\u201d Rwanda, condemning Kigali\u2019s \u201cexpansionist ambitions.\u201d
\nRwanda has not admitted backing M23 but has accused extremist Hutu groups in DR Congo of threatening its security.
\nDR Congo accuses Rwanda of plundering valuable minerals in its eastern provinces.
\nNeighbouring Burundi has also sent thousands of troops to support DR Congo\u2019s struggling army.<\/p>\n
The 55-nation AU is meeting as Africa faces another devastating conflict in Sudan and after US President Donald Trump cut US development aid, hitting the continent hard.
\nLeaders opened the summit by calling for progress on securing reparations for historic abuses by colonial powers \u2014 a growing issue in international talks.
\nThe AU leaders represent around 1.5 billion people in a body that observers have long branded as ineffective, most recently over the DRC violence.
\n\u201cKagame has clearly calculated that his best approach is to push forward, and he does have some support,\u201d International Crisis Group\u2019s Great Lakes project director Richard Moncrieff told AFP.
\n\u201cSome African leaders have trouble defending Congo because they don\u2019t defend themselves.\u201d
\nAngolan President Joao Lourenco, involved for several years in futile mediation between Tshisekedi and Kagame, took over the rotating presidency of the AU in Saturday\u2019s session \u2014 a ceremonial role that changes hands annually.
\nA new chairman of the body\u2019s executive commission \u2014 the AU\u2019s top job \u2014 will also be chosen by vote on Sunday.
\nThree candidates are vying to replace Chad\u2019s Moussa Faki Mahamat, who has reached the two-term limit.
\nThey are Djibouti\u2019s Foreign Minister Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, Kenyan opposition veteran Raila Odinga and Madagascar\u2019s ex-foreign minister Richard Randriamandrato.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ADDIS ABABA: UN chief Antonio Guterres on Saturday demanded that the Democratic Republic of Congo\u2019s \u201cterritorial integrity\u201d be respected and a regional war avoided, at an African summit the day after Rwandan-backed fighters seized a second DRC provincial capital. With international pressure mounting on Rwanda to curb the fighting in eastern DR Congo (DRC), the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":461764,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-461748","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n