Rwanda-backed M23 rebels pledge to 'march all the way to Kinshasa'

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.