GOMA, DR Congo
The Rwanda-backed M23 armed
group vowed Thursday to "continue the march of liberation" to the DR
Congo capital Kinshasa, as its fighters made further advances in the
mineral-rich east of the country.
M23 Rebels President Bertrand
Bisimwa (L), group’s journalist Paluku
Magloire and the Alliance Commander Corneille Nangaa (R) |
The group's capture of most of
Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, is a dramatic escalation in a
region that has seen decades of conflict involving multiple armed groups.
Rwanda says
its primary interest is to eradicate fighters linked to the 1994 genocide but
is accused of seeking to profit from the region's reserves of minerals used in
global electronics.
"We will continue the
march of liberation all the way to Kinshasa,"
Corneille Nangaa, head of a coalition of groups including the M23, told reporters in
Goma.
"We are in Goma and we will not leave... for as long as the questions for which we took up arms have not been answered," he said.
He went on to promise that the
group would restore electricity and security in the city in the coming days,
adding they would establish humanitarian corridors to help the displaced
return.
It comes after Congolese
President Felix Tshisekedi pledged to continue fighting in an
address to the nation late Wednesday, promising a "vigorous and
coordinated response against these terrorists and their sponsors is under
way".
Local sources told our
reporter late Wednesday that Kigali-backed fighters were advancing on a new
front and had seized two districts in South Kivu province.
The Congolese army has yet to
make a statement about the M23 advances.
After days of intense clashes
that left more than 100 dead and nearly 1,000 wounded, according to unofficial tally, some Goma residents on Thursday ventured out to take stock.
"We do not want to live
under the thumb of these people," one person, who wished to remain
anonymous, told our reporter.
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