Rwanda-backed M23 rebels tighten their grip on second major city in eastern Congo
BUKAVU, Congo (AP) — Rwanda-backed rebels tightened their grip on Bukavu on Monday, a day after seizing the second major city in eastern Congo whose residents appeared resigned to their fate under the new rulers.
On Sunday, M23 rebels captured the city of 1.3 million people after it was abandoned by Congolese forces. Bukavu lies 63 miles (101 kilometers) south of Goma, which was captured by the rebels in late January.
The M23 is the most prominent of more than 100 armed groups vying for control of eastern Congo’s trillions of dollars in mineral wealth that’s critical for much of the world’s technology. The rebels are supported by about 4,000 troops from neighboring Rwanda, according to U.N. experts.
The decades-long fighting has displaced more than 6 million people in the region, creating the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.
As the rebels made their way into Bukavu, its streets were flooded by residents attempting to leave and looters filling flour sacks with what they could find. A pall of silence set in later as residents and business owners braced for M23’s entrance into the city center.
On Monday morning, people gradually started coming out again while the rebels patrolled major intersections in the city.
“People are still scared to go out because of the insecurity so it’s not business as usual yet,” David Balezi, a shopkeeper in Bukavu, told The Associated Press.
Bukavu’s border crossing to Rwanda was closed on Monday morning, as were most shops and stores while traffic gradually picked up again.
“Now we thank God that the situation is OK, even if we don’t know what’s coming. Whatever happens, we will live with it,” David Munyaga, a resident of Bukavu, said.
On Monday, Erasto Bahati Musanga, the rebel-appointed governor of North-Kivu province announced that Goma and Bukavu’s ports will reopen Tuesday. Navigation on Lake Kivu, one of the largest lakes in Africa, had been banned since late January, during the rebels offensive on Goma.
In rebel-controlled Goma, hundreds of protesters gathered to call for the departure of the U.N. peacekeeping force in Congo, known as MONUSCO, and the withdrawal of troops from the Southern African Development Community (SADC), which includes countries ranging from Congo to South Africa.
The protestors organized a sit-in in front of the MONUSCO headquarters in Goma, with some brandishing signs and chanting slogans calling for the resignation of Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi.
“The war does not end in Congo, why? They have nothing to do here, they should leave,” Bauma Sukali, a protester, said.
Another protester, Fiston Nsabimana, said: “Tshisekedi is not able to ensure peace, let him leave power.”
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Kabumba reported from Goma, Congo.
By PASCAL CINAMULA and JUSTIN KABUMBA
Associated Press
