By Frank Kamuntu
Rwandan-backed M23 rebels have seized control of a mining town in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo’s South Kivu province, eight sources said on Wednesday, in an apparent violation of a unilateral ceasefire they declared this week.
The capture of Nyabibwe on Lake Kivu takes the rebels a step closer to the provincial capital Bukavu some 40 miles south, a city the rebels said last week they had no intention of capturing. M23 announced a ceasefire on Monday.
Eight people, including local officials, a civil society representative, rebels and an international security source, confirmed Nyabibwe had fallen to the rebels.
“They’re in the centre of the town at the moment,” said the civil society leader, who like the other sources spoke on condition of anonymity.
Nyabibwe, where mines produce gold, coltan and other metals, is a commercial hub more than halfway between Goma, the capital of North Kivu province that the rebels took last week, and Bukavu.
Congo’s Communications Minister Patrick Muyaya told Reuters rebels violated the ceasefire at night and were facing resistance from Congolese armed forces around Nyabibwe.
Corneille Nangaa, leader of the Congo River Alliance rebel coalition that includes M23, confirmed the group moved into Nyabibwe. “They attacked us and we defended ourselves,” he said.
At least 900 people have been killed and more than 2,800 people injured in the recent fighting in Goma, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s North Kivu province, the UN said on Monday. Rwandan-backed armed group M23 has seized Goma, the biggest city in the country’s east, and is advancing south as volunteers and the struggling Congolese army attempt to beat them back.
This advance could indicate M23 had renewed push towards Bukavu that the group launched after they seized Goma last week.
A Congo military court issued an international arrest warrant for Nangaa on Tuesday accusing him of war crimes and treason.
The capture of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo’s largest city displaced hundreds of thousands of people and fanned fears of a wider regional war.
Congo accuses Rwanda of using the M23 to pillage valuable mineral deposits. Rwanda says it is acting in self-defense and to protect ethnic Tutsis.
The scale of the civilian harm was still emerging in Goma where people last week were caught in the crossfire and fighting destroyed buildings, overwhelmed hospitals and left bodies strewn in the streets.
The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs on Wednesday estimated at least 2,800 people died in Goma.
“The human toll is staggering. We and our partners are struggling to assess the full extent of the situation,” spokesperson Jens Laerke said via email.
International Criminal Court prosecutors said they were closely monitoring events after reports of possible war crimes in the battle for Goma.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said its medical warehouse in Goma was looted last week and would take months to restore.
The city’s bishop, Willy Ngumbi, on Wednesday, deplored damage to a maternity ward from explosives and called on Rwanda, Congo and Burundi — which also has troops in the region aiding Congo — to hold talks to prevent an escalation of the conflict.
In Congo’s capital Kinshasa, lawmakers in the National Assembly held a lengthy closed-door extraordinary session to discuss the crisis ahead of a summit with eastern and southern African leaders in Tanzania this weekend.
A diplomatic source said Rwanda opposed the presence of troops from the 16-member Southern African Development Community that is supporting Congo and which extended its mission late last year.
Despite renewed fighting, Malawi cited the ceasefire on Wednesday in order for its troops to withdraw from the force.
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