Rwanda-backed rebels have made inroads in the eastern DR Congo, local sources told AFP on Thursday, while the Congolese army accused Rwanda of abusing a ceasefire deal to seize territory.
Since launching a fresh offensive in late 2021, the largely ethnic Tutsi M23 rebel militia has seized swathes of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s troubled east, displacing thousands while creating a humanitarian crisis.
Despite a truce agreed by Kigali and Kinshasa in early August, the M23 has for several days been on the offensive in the DRC’s North Kivu province, heading for the strategically significant loyalist town of Pinga.
Insisting that the Congolese army was “faithfully observing” the ceasefire, the DRC province’s military command accused Rwanda of “taking advantage” of the deal “to seize control of certain localities” in a statement issued on Thursday.
Though the truce had been largely respected by the Congolese and Rwandan armies, armed groups affiliated with both countries’ militaries have regularly violated it.
On October 23, the M23 seized the disputed town of Kalembe after fighting with the Wazalendo, a loose coalition of militias backing the Congolese army.
Since then, the Rwandan-allied militia has captured several towns on the road to Pinga, a Wazalendo stronghold which is home to one of the region’s few airstrips, security and local sources told AFP.
The Wazalendo was on Thursday fighting alongside the Congolese army to repel M23 forces near the town, they added.
“Since the morning there have been clashes between the DRC’s armed forces, the Wazalendo and M23,” a military source in Pinga told AFP on condition of anonymity on Thursday.
Several local sources confirmed the clashes to AFP, adding that the Congolese armed forces have sent reinforcements to the area.
No casualties from the fighting had been reported.
In the wake of Kalembe’s capture, ceasefire-deal-broker Angola accused the M23 of a “flagrant violation” of the truce.
France has also condemned the “continuing offensives by the M23”.
Home to a string of rival rebel groups, the mineral-rich east of the DRC has been plagued by internal and cross-border violence for the past three decades.
© Agence France-Presse
