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The M23 rebels supported by Rwanda have confiscated control of a mining city in the South Kivu Province of the Democratic Republic of Congo, eight sources said on Wednesday because they declared a one-sided armistice against a one-sided armistice that they explained this week.
The conquest of Nyabibwe on the Kivusee leads the rebels closer to the provincial capital Bukavu, the about 70 kilometers south, a city that said the rebels last week they had no intention to catch. M23 announced a ceasefire on Monday.
Eight people, including local officials, a representative of civil society, rebels and an international security source, confirmed that Nyabibwe had fallen to the rebels.
“There have been clashes since 5 a.m. and it was at 9 a.m. Sources spoke under condition of anonymity.
The World Food Program warns of the lack of food, clean water and medical care in Goma in the eastern Congo, where waves of the struggle displaced thousands of people and disrupted the supply chains.
Nyabibwe, where mines Gold, Coltan and other metals produce, is a trade center more than halfway between Goma, the capital of the province of North Kivu, who took the rebels last week, and Bukavu.
The Communication Minister of Congo, Patrick Muyaya, said Reuters rebels that they had violated the armistice at night and that they were exposed to the resistance of the Congolese armed forces near Nyabibwe.
Corneille Nangaa, leader of the Rebel coalition of the Congo River Alliance, which also includes M23, confirmed that the group has moved to Nyabibwe. “You attacked us and we defended ourselves,” he said to Reuters.
This progress could point out that M23 had extended the pressure on Bukavu that the group had launched after the confiscation of Goma last week.
The capture of the largest city in the Eastern Congo displaced hundreds of thousands of people and subjected the fears of a broader regional war.
The Congo accuses Rwanda of using the M23 to loot valuable mineral deposits. Rwanda says that it is self -defense and protects ethnic tutsis.
“The human tribute is amazing”
The extent of civil damage was still in Goma, where people were caught in the crossfire last week and left corpses scattered against destroyed buildings, overwhelmed hospitals and on the streets.
The UN office for coordinating humanitarian matters on Wednesday estimated at least 2,800 people in Goma.
“The human tribute is amazing. We and our partners have difficulty evaluating the full extent of the situation,” said spokesman Jens Laerke via e -mail.
The public prosecutor’s office of the International Criminal Court stated that, according to reports on possible war crimes, events in the fight against Goma.
The Red Cross International Committee said that its medical warehouse in Goma was looted last week and would take months to maintain the restoration.
The city’s bishop Willy Ngumbi regretted a maternity ward through explosives on Wednesday and asked Rwanda, Congo and Burundi, who also have troops in the region to help the Congo to have conversations to prevent the conflict escalating.
Supported rebels, supported by Rwanda, they have caught the largest city in the eastern Congo, with the United Nations in Goma “mass panic”. Didier Kagongo is a Londoner from the Democratic Republic of Congo. He joined London Morning to talk about how the situation affects him and his family at home.
In the capital of Kinshasa, the legislators held a long extraordinary meeting in the closed door in the National Assembly to discuss the crisis in front of a summit with East and South African leaders in Tanzania this weekend.
A diplomatic source said Rwanda rejected the presence of troops from the 16-member South African development community, which supported the Congo and extended their mission at the end of last year.
Despite renewed fights, Malawi quoted the armistice on Wednesday to withdraw his troops from the troops.
