GOMA, DR Congo
Fighting with heavy weapons erupted between government forces and M23 insurgents in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Thursday, shaking a five-day-old truce, security sources and rebels said.
The ceasefire took effect in
North Kivu province at the weekend following a summit between DRC and its
neighbour Rwanda.
It was to have been followed
by a rebel pull-out from captured territory, a withdrawal that has yet to take
place.
The sources said fighting
resumed Thursday in Kirima, about 10 kilometres from the town of Kibirizi.
"Fighting resumed this
morning between the FARDC and the M23," said Paul Lutibahwa, head of civil
society groups for the Bambo region. The FARDC stands for the armed forces of
the DRC.
"The rebels have crossed
the bridge, heading for Kibirizi... there's panic," he said, an account
confirmed by a representative of civil groups there, who said that people were
fleeing.
A security official, speaking
on condition of anonymity, accused the M23 of having breached the ceasefire and
"carrying on looting and fighting".
A DRC army officer, who also
asked not to be identified, said: "The fighting is heavy — we are using
heavy artillery."
Contacted by AFP, the
M23's military spokesman Willy Ngoma confirmed that there was fighting with the
army.
The March 23 movement, or M23,
is a predominantly Congolese Tutsi rebel group that was dormant for years.
It took up arms again in
November last year and seized the town of Bunagana on the border with Uganda in
June 2022.
After a brief period of calm,
it went on the offensive again in October, greatly extending the territory
under its control and advancing towards the city of Goma.
Kinshasa accuses its smaller
neighbour Rwanda of providing M23 with support, something that UN experts and
US officials have also pointed to in recent months.
Kigali disputes the charge,
and in turn accuses Kinshasa of collusion with the FDLR — a former Rwandan Hutu
rebel group established in the DRC after the genocide of the Tutsi community in
1994 in Rwanda.
Talks between the two
countries in the Angolan capital of Luanda unlocked a truce agreement on
November 23.
The ceasefire was scheduled to
take effect on Friday, November 25 at 1600 GMT and be followed by a pull-out by
the M23 two days later.
A parallel initiative has been
undertaken by the East African Community (EAC), a seven-nation regional bloc
that includes Rwanda.
It has decided to deploy a
regional force to help stabilise the region, for which Kenyan troops are
already deployed in Goma, and on November 28 launched peace talks, to which the
M23 are not invited.
Until Thursday's violence,
there had been no fighting between government forces and the M23, although the
rebels had clashed with local militia, especially in the Bambo area, where civilian
casualties were reported.
The Vatican, meanwhile,
announced that Pope Francis would visit the DRC and South Sudan from January 31
to February 5.
His trip to the two countries
had been planned for July this year but was postponed because the pope was
undergoing treatment for knee pain.
His stay in the DRC from
January 31 to February 3 will take place in Kinshasa and no longer includes
Goma.
The site that had been chosen
for a papal mass, located 15 kilometres north of Goma, is currently occupied by
a forward position of the armed forces.
Scores of armed groups roam
eastern DRC, making it one of Africa's most violent regions.
Many are legacies of two wars
before the turn of the century that sucked in countries from the region and
left millions dead.
Demonstrators protesting
perceived international indifference to the crisis rallied in Goma early
Thursday.
Another march staged by the
Catholic church took place in Bukavu, in neighbouring South Kivu province.
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