The rebels supported by Rwanda quickly widen their presence in eastern Dr. Congo after capturing Goma, the main city in the region, said the UN on Friday.
The UN also expressed its concerns concerning the executions it learned from the rebels which intervened after a major climbing of their rebellion of several years in the region rich in minerals.
UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said that the World Health Organization and his partners had carried out an assessment with the government of Dr Congo between January 26 and 26 “and report that 700 people were killed and 2,800 injured “in Goma and nearby.
“These figures should increase as more information becomes available,” he said.
The rebels were now about 60 kilometers from the provincial capital of Buakavu of South Kivu and “seem to evolve fairly quickly,” the head of the UN peacekeep, Jean-Pierre Lacroix said on Friday during a point press. The M23 captured several cities after seizing Goma Voisin, a critical humanitarian center for many of the six million people displaced by the conflict.
The army of the Central African nation was weakened after losing hundreds of staff and foreign mercenaries went to the rebels after the fall of Goma.
The capture of Goma brought humanitarian operations to “a deadline, cutting a vital lifeboy for the delivery of the aid in the East (Dr Congo),” said Rose Tchwenko, Director of the Mercy Corps Aid Aid Group. The fears of an even greater displacement, while the rupture of humanitarian access leaves the communities blocked without support. “”
The regional block of southern Africa, of which Dr Congo is a member, decided on Friday to maintain his peacekeeping force deployed in eastern Dr. Congo in 2023. The president of the group, the president of Zimbabwe, Emmerson Mnangagwa, called for “daring” and “decisive measures” towards stimulating the capacity of force.
At the United Nations, France distributed a project to resolution of the Security Council to the 15 members on Friday, urging the judgment of the current offensive in eastern Dr. Congo, the withdrawal of “foreign elements” and a recovery of talks To achieve a cessation of hostilities, the UN Ambassador of France, Nicolas de Rivière, said. He expressed the hope that he could be adopted soon.
The M23 group is the most powerful of more than 100 armed groups in the running in the East East Congo minerals, which contains large deposits to a large part of the world’s technology. They are supported by around 4,000 neighboring Rwanda soldiers, according to UN experts, much more than in 2012, when they captured Goma for the first time for days in a conflict led by ethnic grievances.
Observers say that unlike the first takeover of the rebels in Dr Congo, their withdrawal could be more difficult now.
The rebels have been embraced by Rwanda, which considers that the Congo ignores its interests in the region and did not respond to the requests of the previous peace agreements, according to Muririthi Mutiga, director of the program for Africa to the reflection group Crisis group. “In the end, this is a failure of African mediation – warning signs were still there,” said Mutiga.
The spokesperson for the UN Human Rights Office, Jeremy Laurence, spoke on Friday during a briefing of the worsening of the human rights crisis following the rebellion, including Bomb strikes on at least two camps of internal displaced people who have killed an unspecified number of people.
“We have also documented summary executions of at least 12 people per m23 from January 26 to 28,” said Laurence, adding that the group also occupied schools and hospitals in the province and submits civilians to a forced conscription and for forced work.
Congolese forces have also been accused of sexual violence while the fight against rages in the region, Laurence said.
“We check the information that 52 women were raped by Congolese troops in southern Kivu, including alleged gang rape reports,” he said.
An attack on the rebels of the Kalehe territory, about 140 kilometers from the provincial capital in southern Kivu, was pushed by the security forces, said Lieutenant-General Pacifie Masunzu, who commands a key military defense area in the South of Kivu.
The Congolese military bases in Bukavu were emptied Thursday to strengthen those from the path to the provincial capital, residents told the Associated Press.
Dujarric, the United Nations spokesperson, said the United Nations had around 1,200 international and national employees in Bukavu. “We move some people from there as a precaution,” he said.
On Friday, hundreds of young people registered as volunteers to join military training in the provincial capital, according to Gabriel Kasanji, a local administrative agent. This follows Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi on Thursday for mass military mobilization.
While he took office on Friday as a new governor of North Kivu, who includes Goma, Major-General Somo Kakule Evariste promised to “move as soon as possible” to Goma to restore government control.
“This is not the time for speeches,” said the general. “The flame of resistance will never be extinguished.”
In Goma, the head of the United Nations peacekeeping, Lacroix, said: “The situation remains tense and volatile, occasional shots continuing in the city.”
Overall, calm is gradually restored and water and electricity have been restored in a large part of Goma, but the airport remains closed and the track unusable, he said.
The United Nations peacekeeping force in the city, known as Monusco, continues to fight against unplodced ammunition which are “a very serious obstacle to freedom of movement,” said Lacroix.
“We are going to fight until we remain democracy,” said Corneille Nangaa, one of M23’s political leaders. “From a failed state to a modern state.”