By Frank Kamuntu
M23 rebels who seized a major city in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo have declared a unilateral ceasefire, citing humanitarian grounds.
Monday’s announcement came after the UN health agency said at least 900 people had died in last week’s fighting between the M23 rebels and Congolese forces after the rebels seized the major city of Goma.
The rebels were then reportedly advancing on another provincial capital, Bukavu.
“It must be made clear that we have no intention of capturing Bukavu or other areas. However, we reiterate our commitment to protecting and defending the civilian population and our positions,” M23 spokesman Lawrence Kanyuka said in a statement.
There was no immediate comment from Congo’s government.
The World Health Organisation said nearly 2,900 people were wounded in the fighting.
The M23 rebels are reportedly backed by 4,000 troops from neighbouring Rwanda, according to UN experts, far more than in 2012 when they first briefly captured Goma.
They are the most potent of more than 100 armed groups vying for control in Congo’s mineral-rich east, which holds vast deposits critical to much of the world’s technology.
The fighting has upended lives in the city of two million people, prompting hundreds of thousands of people displaced by the conflict to carry what was left of their belongings and flee again. Thousands poured into neighbouring Rwanda.
The fighting in Congo has connections with a decades-long ethnic conflict.
M23 says it is defending ethnic Tutsis in Congo. Rwanda has claimed the Tutsis are being persecuted by Hutus and former militias responsible for the 1994 genocide of 800,000 Tutsis and others in Rwanda.
Many Hutus fled to Congo after the genocide and founded the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) militia group. Rwanda said the group is “fully integrated” into the Congolese military, which denies the charges.
The regional blocs of southern and eastern Africa have called for a ceasefire. On Monday, they will hold a joint summit this week to discuss the conflict, Kenya’s President William Ruto said. He added that the presidents of Congo and Rwanda will attend.
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