DR Congo forces take over Goma after rebel pullout
A Congolese police officer arrives in Goma with her child on Sunday after M23 rebels pulled out. Authorities in DR Congo's eastern city of Goma assumed gradual control of the key mining hub Sunday after a rebel pullout, amid reports of rape and looting and with government soldiers yet to arrive.
Congolese police officers prepare to disembark from a boat at Goma on Sunday. Over 160 police officers arrived by boat at Goma's lake port to reinforce some 300 colleagues who arrived on Saturday.
Map locating eastern DR Congo and the city of Goma, which M23 rebels have evacuated.
AFP - Authorities in Democratic Republic of Congo's eastern city of Goma assumed gradual control of the key mining hub Sunday after a rebel pullout, amid reports of rape and looting and with government soldiers yet to arrive.
Tensions are high, with gumen late on Sunday attacking the giant Mugunga camp, home to up to 35,000 displaced people, some ten kilometres (six miles) west of Goma. UN refugee agency officials reported cases of looting and rape.
Over 160 police officers arrived by boat at Goma's lake port to reinforce some 300 colleagues who arrived yesterday, and who have assumed control of the city of around million people following the planned withdrawal of M23 rebel fighters.
Some 600 government soldiers are also reported to be on the way to Goma.
While the rebel's lightening seizure of Goma last week sparked fear of a wider war, their pullout raised hopes it signalled a move back from further conflict.
"It's a step in the right direction," government spokesman Lambert Mende told AFP, adding that President Joseph Kabila would soon start "listening to the grievances" of the rebels as part of peace negotiations.
This eastern region, rich in valuable minerals and bordering Rwanda and Uganda, has already been the cradle of back-to-back wars that embroiled other nations in the region from 1996 to 2003.
Residents were wary of the arrival of government soldiers, who, like the rebels, have been accused of abuses including killings of civilians, rape and looting.
"They used to intimidate you and ask you for money," said Angeline, a Goma resident who only gave her first name.
"Of course we're a little worried... what we want is peace," she added, sitting at her small market stall, empty of goods after nearly two weeks of rebel occupation.
The UN-backed Radio Okapi was also jammed since late Saturday, officials said, after it aired an interview with M23's political leader Jean-Marie Runiga.
Singing songs and waving guns, M23 fighters crammed onto a convoy of looted trucks left Goma on Saturday afternoon, hauling with them heavy weaponry and ammunition seized when Congo's army fled in disarray from their advance into Goma and surrounding settlements in the war-weary region.
But the rebels remain just outside Goma, having pledged to withdraw only 20 kilometres (12 miles) under a regionally brokered deal, with complex negotiations now to focus on their demands, which include political reform.
Jason Stearns, an independent analyst, has warned the rebel withdrawal "is just a tactical retreat and the war is far from over."
Kris Berwouts, another independent analyst, warned that while "there may be new negotiations, it is not going to solve anything long term," noting the rebellion was sparked by the failure of earlier peace deals.
UN peacekeepers, who were unable to stop the rebel advance last week, said they had no plans to boost its current force of 1,600 troops in Goma, said spokesman Madnodje Mounoubai.
Under the deal agreed by the rebels, the M23 will post 100 men at Goma's airport alongside similar numbers of government troops, soldiers from neighbouring Tanzania and United Nations peacekeepers.
M23 was founded by former fighters in a Tutsi rebel group whose members were integrated into the regular army under a 2009 peace deal that they claim was never fully implemented.
Decades of conflict between multiple militia forces -- as well as meddling by regional armies -- have ravaged Congo's east, which holds vast mineral wealth including copper, diamonds, gold and key mobile phone component coltan.
UN experts have accused Rwanda and Uganda -- which played active roles in DR Congo's 1996-2003 wars -- of supporting M23, a charge both countries deny.
Britain on Friday froze $33.7 million (25.9 million euros) in aid to Rwanda following "credible and compelling reports of Rwandan involvement with M23," International Development Secretary Justine Greening said, a move condemned by Kigali.
Aid agencies are struggling to cope with the newly displaced, with some 285,000 people having fled their homes since the rebels began their uprising in April.
A UN report said Wednesday their work had been hampered by the closure of Goma airport.
The instability in DR Congo's east was exacerbated by the aftermath of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, when Hutus implicated in the killing of some 800,000 mostly Tutsi victims fled across the Congolese border after Tutsi leader Paul Kagame came to power
Tensions are high, with gumen late on Sunday attacking the giant Mugunga camp, home to up to 35,000 displaced people, some ten kilometres (six miles) west of Goma. UN refugee agency officials reported cases of looting and rape.
Over 160 police officers arrived by boat at Goma's lake port to reinforce some 300 colleagues who arrived yesterday, and who have assumed control of the city of around million people following the planned withdrawal of M23 rebel fighters.
Some 600 government soldiers are also reported to be on the way to Goma.
While the rebel's lightening seizure of Goma last week sparked fear of a wider war, their pullout raised hopes it signalled a move back from further conflict.
"It's a step in the right direction," government spokesman Lambert Mende told AFP, adding that President Joseph Kabila would soon start "listening to the grievances" of the rebels as part of peace negotiations.
This eastern region, rich in valuable minerals and bordering Rwanda and Uganda, has already been the cradle of back-to-back wars that embroiled other nations in the region from 1996 to 2003.
Residents were wary of the arrival of government soldiers, who, like the rebels, have been accused of abuses including killings of civilians, rape and looting.
"They used to intimidate you and ask you for money," said Angeline, a Goma resident who only gave her first name.
"Of course we're a little worried... what we want is peace," she added, sitting at her small market stall, empty of goods after nearly two weeks of rebel occupation.
The UN-backed Radio Okapi was also jammed since late Saturday, officials said, after it aired an interview with M23's political leader Jean-Marie Runiga.
Singing songs and waving guns, M23 fighters crammed onto a convoy of looted trucks left Goma on Saturday afternoon, hauling with them heavy weaponry and ammunition seized when Congo's army fled in disarray from their advance into Goma and surrounding settlements in the war-weary region.
But the rebels remain just outside Goma, having pledged to withdraw only 20 kilometres (12 miles) under a regionally brokered deal, with complex negotiations now to focus on their demands, which include political reform.
Jason Stearns, an independent analyst, has warned the rebel withdrawal "is just a tactical retreat and the war is far from over."
Kris Berwouts, another independent analyst, warned that while "there may be new negotiations, it is not going to solve anything long term," noting the rebellion was sparked by the failure of earlier peace deals.
UN peacekeepers, who were unable to stop the rebel advance last week, said they had no plans to boost its current force of 1,600 troops in Goma, said spokesman Madnodje Mounoubai.
Under the deal agreed by the rebels, the M23 will post 100 men at Goma's airport alongside similar numbers of government troops, soldiers from neighbouring Tanzania and United Nations peacekeepers.
M23 was founded by former fighters in a Tutsi rebel group whose members were integrated into the regular army under a 2009 peace deal that they claim was never fully implemented.
Decades of conflict between multiple militia forces -- as well as meddling by regional armies -- have ravaged Congo's east, which holds vast mineral wealth including copper, diamonds, gold and key mobile phone component coltan.
UN experts have accused Rwanda and Uganda -- which played active roles in DR Congo's 1996-2003 wars -- of supporting M23, a charge both countries deny.
Britain on Friday froze $33.7 million (25.9 million euros) in aid to Rwanda following "credible and compelling reports of Rwandan involvement with M23," International Development Secretary Justine Greening said, a move condemned by Kigali.
Aid agencies are struggling to cope with the newly displaced, with some 285,000 people having fled their homes since the rebels began their uprising in April.
A UN report said Wednesday their work had been hampered by the closure of Goma airport.
The instability in DR Congo's east was exacerbated by the aftermath of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, when Hutus implicated in the killing of some 800,000 mostly Tutsi victims fled across the Congolese border after Tutsi leader Paul Kagame came to power
The government definitely needs to send soldiers, especially if rebel militants are looting and raping and violating the human rights of the Congolese citizens.
ReplyDelete-Alex Canan
While the acts of the rebels were indeed terrible, I think it's good to hear that the government is willing to listen to what the rebels want and why, exactly, they are fighting.
ReplyDelete-Emma H.