MADRID Jan. 9 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The UN special envoy for the Great Lakes region, Huang Xia, has expressed concern about the “rapid deterioration” of the security situation in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, where tens of thousands of people have been forced to flee the fighting between the Congolese Army and the militias of the March 23 Movement (M23).
Huang has “strongly condemned the escalation of tensions”, as well as the territorial expansion of the M23 – which recently took the city of Masisi, in the province of North Kivu – and the breaking of the ceasefire, since all this “is worsening an already extremely precarious humanitarian situation for the civilian population,” according to a statement.
In this sense, he has urged the parties to the conflict to give priority to dialogue within the framework of the regional peace processes of Luanda (Angola) and Nairobi (Kenya), and to refrain “from any act that could constitute a violation of the commitments” agreed in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) in 2013.
“The persistence of hostilities jeopardizes collective efforts to promote stability and sustainable development in the Great Lakes region,” he noted, while advocating for a peaceful resolution to the conflict and “ending the suffering of population, which has gone on for too long.
Finally, he has reaffirmed the UN’s commitment to working “closely” with the governments of the region and regional organizations to revitalize the Addis Ababa agreement, which is why he has requested that a new high-level meeting be convened “urgently.” of the oversight mechanism, in order to address the current situation through the “root causes” and “end the cycles of violence”.
Between January 1 and 5, more than 100,000 people were forced to flee the fighting between the Army and the M23, while in the last months of 2024 attacks by different armed groups increased. By the end of 2024, more than 2.7 million people were displaced in North Kivu province alone.
The M23 is a rebel group composed mainly of Congolese Tutsis that operates mainly in the province of North Kivu. After a conflict between 2012 and 2013, a peace agreement was signed, although the group launched a new offensive at the end of 2022.
The situation has caused a diplomatic crisis between the DRC and Rwanda over their support for the group, raising fears of a large-scale conflict. Kigali, for its part, accuses Kinshasa of repressing Congolese Tutsis with the support of groups such as the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), founded and composed mainly of Hutus responsible for the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.
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