At least 773 people have been killed in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (DRC) largest city of Goma and its vicinity in a week, amid fighting with Rwanda-backed M23 rebels who captured the city in a serious escalation of a decade-long conflict, authorities said.
Because the rebels demanded that the populace clean Goma’s streets, these figures continue to be provisional. Rwandans should have mass graves, according to Congolese government spokesman Patrick Muyaya at a press conference on Saturday, adding that the death toll could rise.
M23 is the most potent of more than 100 armed groups vying for control in DRC’s mineral-rich east, which holds vast deposits critical to much of the world’s technology. They are backed by about 4, 000 troops from neighbouring Rwanda, according to United Nations experts.
The military of the central African country, which recovered some villages from them, slowed the rebels’ advance into other regions. After Goma’s fall, the military lost hundreds of soldiers, but foreign mercenaries turned themselves in and gave themselves to the rebels.
After the rebels promised to restore basic services, including water and power supply, hundreds of Goma residents started making their way back to the city on Saturday. They cleaned up neighborhoods that were filled with blood and debris from weapons.
UN peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix on Friday said M23 and Rwandan forces were about 60km (37 miles) north of South Kivu’s provincial capital of Bukavu. According to Lacroix, the rebels “seem to be moving quite quickly,” and capturing an airport a few kilometers (miles) away “would be yet another really significant step.”
Goma’s capture has brought humanitarian operations to “a standstill, cutting off a vital lifeline for aid delivery” across eastern DRC, said Rose Tchwenko, country director for the Mercy Corps aid group.
Source: Aljazeera
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