The US asks the M23 to “hand over their arms” and demands that Rwanda “cease all support” for the rebels
Jan. 5 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The March 23 Movement (M23) rebel group has confirmed that it will withdraw this Thursday from the town of Rumangabo, located in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and which has a strategic military base, after taking it in October as part of his offensive in the area.
“The M23 will hand over the Rumangabo military base to the East Africa Regional Force (EACRF) on January 5, 2023, as planned,” he said in a statement in which he also reiterated that he withdrew on December 23, 2023. 2021 from their positions in Kibumba, also located in the province of North Kivu.
“The M23 remains committed to applying the resolutions of the Luanda mini-summit and gives its support to the endless efforts of the region to find peace in the DRC,” he said in his statement, published through his account on the social network Twitter . The presidents of the DRC and Rwanda, Félix Tshisekedi and Paul Kagame, respectively, participated in the aforementioned summit, and a ceasefire and a process for the withdrawal of the rebels were agreed.
Likewise, the group’s spokesman, Lawrence Kanyuka, has condemned the “continued attacks by the DRC government coalition” against its positions and has warned that “it will continue to defend itself and protect the civilian populations in the areas under its control.”
Local sources quoted by the Congolese media have indicated that during the last two days the M23 has taken control of the towns of Kisharo and Nyamilima, while the group has denounced continued attacks by the Army and other militias, including the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), founded and composed mainly of Hutus responsible for the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.
On the other hand, the United States has said that it “shares the concerns” expressed in a recent report published by United Nations experts on the upsurge in violence in the eastern DRC and Rwanda’s support for M23 operations.
“We hope that the UN-sanctioned M23 will withdraw from the locations specified in the November 23 communiqué in Luanda, cease all hostilities, hand over its weapons and join the consultation process between the government and armed groups led by the EAC in Nairobi,” the US State Department said.
Likewise, he has pointed to the “clear evidence” of Kigali’s support for the M23 and the “credible reports of serious Human Rights abuses” by the rebels, for which he has asked Rwanda to “cease all support for the M23 and withdraw your troops from the eastern DRC.”
“Equally, we denounce the collaboration between elements of the Congolese Armed Forces and other groups, including the FDLR, as indicated in the report. We strongly condemn the attacks against multiple armed groups against UN peacekeeping troops, as well as the acts of torture , rape and civilian attacks by multiple armed actors, which contributed to massive displacement during the reporting period,” it said.
Finally, it has warned of “the worrying increase in xenophobia and hate speech inciting violence against the Kiñuaruanda-speaking community in the DRC, as the report highlights. We ask the Congolese authorities to continue to speak out to condemn this speech and hold them accountable to those who use violence”, has settled.
In a different vein, the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, has appointed Brazilian Lieutenant General Otávio Rodrigues De Miranda Filho as the new Commander of the United Nations Mission Force in the DRC (MONUSCO), replacing Marcos, who is also Brazilian. from Sá Affonso da Costa.
MONUSCO has been stationed in the northeast of the country for more than 20 years, in an attempt to shore up peace in the presence of some 130 armed groups that are fighting for control of the vast natural resources of the DRC. During the last months there have been numerous protests and even attacks against the ‘blue helmets’ due to the growing insecurity, which has led Tshisekedi to ask the UN to “re-evaluate” the MONUSCO withdrawal plan.
