Government forces celebrate the capture of Rumangabo
DR Congo Seeks Democracy
The
UN's special envoy in the Democratic Republic of Congo has told the
organisation's Security Council that the M23 rebel movement is all but
finished as a military threat.
Martin Kobler said the M23 had abandoned most military
positions in the east and was confined to a small triangle close to the
Rwandan border.A fifth rebel-held area in a week fell to government forces on Monday.
The rebels say that their withdrawals are temporary.
Mr Kobler told the UN Security Council by video-link: "It is practically the military end of the M23."
He said the rebels had abandoned a key position on Mount Hehu near the Rwandan border.
He said: "Mr Kobler has briefed us and basically he told us that we are witnessing the military end of the M23.
"So I think it's a positive development of course and there was a general agreement that now we should go back to the table of negotiation in Kampala."
Peace talks between the government and M23, hosted by neighbouring Uganda, broke down last week.
There had previously been about two months of relative calm in eastern DR Congo.
'Retreating rebels' Cheering crowds reportedly welcomed government troops on Monday as they entered Rumangabo town, where the latest M23 base to fall was located.
The government is re-establishing its rule there, said North Kivu province governor Julien Palukui.
Who are the M23 rebels?
- Named after the 23 March 2009 peace accord which they accuse the government of violating
- This deal saw them join the army before they took up arms once more in April 2012
- Also known as the Congolese Revolutionary Army
- Mostly from minority Tutsi ethnic group
- Deny being backed by Rwanda and Uganda
- Believed to have 1,200 to 6,000 fighters
- International Criminal Court indicted top commander Bosco "Terminator" Ntaganda in 2006 for allegedly recruiting child soldiers
"We have just held two meetings
in order to discuss how to uplift the population... and we are
announcing the restoration of the civil service within the next 24
hours,'' he added.
Rumangabo - about 50km (30 miles) north of Goma, the main
city in eastern DR Congo - had one of the three biggest military bases
in DR Congo before it fell to the rebels last year.There is no doubt that the government forces have achieved huge victories over the rebels, says the BBC's Maud Jullien in the capital, Kinshasa.
The UN has deployed a new intervention brigade to eastern DR Congo with a stronger mandate to confront armed groups.
On Sunday, the UN mission in DR Congo, Monusco, said a Tanzanian peacekeeper was killed during fighting with the M23 in the town of Kiwanja.
"The soldier died while protecting the people of Kiwanja," Monusco said in a statement.
The military success in Rumangabo followed the capture of four other areas - Kiwanja, Rutshuru, Buhumba and Kibumba - since the weekend, the army said.
M23 officials in Uganda said their fighters had retreated because government and UN forces had launched a joint assault, reports the BBC's Ignatius Bahizi from Uganda's capital, Kampala.
Rebel forces were outnumbered, they said.
M23 fighters planned to regroup before making their next move, the officials added.
At least 800,000 people have fled their homes in DR Congo since the M23 launched its rebellion in April 2012, the UN humanitarian agency, Ocha, says.
The rebels briefly occupied eastern DR Congo's main town, Goma, in November 2012 before pulling out under international pressure.
The M23 are mainly ethnic Tutsis, like most of Rwanda's leaders.
Rwanda and Uganda deny persistent Congolese and UN allegations that the neighbours are backing the rebel forces.
Eastern DR Congo has been wracked by conflict since 1994, when Hutu militias fled across the border from Rwanda after carrying out a genocide against Tutsis and moderate Hutus.
SOURCE.: BBC
FROM AFRICA REVIEW: REPORT
Government troops in the Democratic Republic of Congo
said they had gained more ground against M23 rebels Monday as the head
of the UN mission in the country described the movement as finished.
"Practically all M23 positions were abandoned
yesterday, except for a small triangle at the Rwandan border," Martin
Kobler told the UN Security Council by video-link, according to
diplomats.
He said that the M23 had abandoned a key position
on Mount Hehu near the Rwandan border, reportedly adding: "It is
practically the military end of the M23."
The French ambassador to the United Nations, who was at Kobler's closed door briefing, confirmed his report.
"We can say today that the M23 is finished,
militarily," Gerard Araud told reporters. "Most of the positions held by
the M23 have been retaken by Democratic Republic of Congo forces."
Mr Araud and other diplomats expressed hope that
defeat on the battlefield would convince the rebel faction to return to
peace talks.
Mr Kobler, the civilian special representative in
charge of the UN stabilization mission in the DRC, was speaking after
Congolese government forces backed by UN troops carried out an
offensive.
Troops from the UN peacekeeping mission MONUSCO
have a mandate to conduct operations against rebels in the region of
Goma, capital of the restive province of North Kivu.
Rolled back
A Tanzanian UN soldier was killed in the fighting,
but the rebels were rolled back and local civilians are overjoyed, Mr
Kobler said, according to officials present at the closed door meeting.
He said that the M23 had abandoned a key position
on Mount Hehu near the Rwandan border, reportedly adding: "It is
practically the military end of the M23."
The mainly Tutsi M23 movement emerged in April
2012 after a mutiny by former rebels who had been taken into the
Democratic Republic of Congo army under a 2009 deal.
Rebels accused Kinshasa of failing to keep the
terms of that deal, then on-off talks in the Ugandan capital Kampala
failed after the government refused to give an amnesty to about 80 rebel
leaders.
The M23's numbers were limited, but the movement,
which allegedly received support from neighbouring Rwanda, was seen as a
threat to stability in a region with long history of conflict.
Rwanda's UN ambassador, Eugene Richard Gasana,
alleged that 21 shells had fallen on the Rwandan side of the border
during the fighting and that two civilians had been killed and 10
wounded.
He said that 15 wounded M23 fighters had crossed
into Rwanda and been handed over to the Red Cross and that 1,000
refugees had fled the fighting.
"Rwanda will be forced to take action if Rwandan
lives continue to be jeopardized," he warned, according to diplomats who
were at the briefing.
"Rwanda will not tolerate for much longer
violations of its territorial integrity," he said, according to the
officials, alleging that Rwandan Hutu FDLR rebels were operating
alongside Congolese forces.
Seized control
Mr Kobler, according to diplomats, confirmed some
shells had fallen on Rwandan soil and said the United Nations would take
steps against the FDLR once the M23 threat was dealt with.
Troops seized back control of a major military
base at Rumanagabo, which lies about 40 kilometres (25 miles) north of
Goma, the strategic capital of embattled North Kivu province,
Lieutenant-Colonel Olivier Hamuli told news wire AFP.
"We fought, but not for very long -- the enemy is
demoralised by the strength of (our) firepower," Hamuli said on the
fourth day of an offensive against the M23, following the suspension of
peace talks in Uganda.
Troops recaptured two other towns, Kiwanja and
Rutshuru, at the weekend and heavy fighting was reported at Kibumba,
around 25 kilometres from Goma, where soldiers cleaning up the area made
the grim discovery of three mass graves.
One witness who did not give his name reported seeing "horrible things" at the site of the graves.
'Bodies'
"I saw three or four child skulls, underwear and
women's clothing. There were insects in some places, which meant there
were not just bones there.
"Further on there was a large ravine where people
said quite a lot of bodies had been thrown but I wasn't able to check,"
the witness said.
A special commission has been tasked with
"identifying the graves" and "determining their scale as well as those
responsible for these serious human rights violations", Defence Minister
Alexandre Luba Ntambo said.
Mr Ntambo said there was "no limit" to army action to drive out rebels.
M23 is "a rebel movement, a negative force... I don't see how someone can stand up and tell us when to stop", he said.
The renewed fighting -- the heaviest since August -- has sparked concern from the West, prompting calls for restraint.
SOURCE: AFRICA REVIEW
SOURCE: AFRICA REVIEW
