M23, Rwandan troops launch fresh DR Congo offensive

M23, Rwandan troops launch fresh DR Congo offensive

People pray for peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo at a church in Bukavu

The M23 armed group and allied Rwandan forces launched a new offensive on Wednesday in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, days before the Rwandan and Congolese presidents are due to attend a crisis summit.

The United Nations meanwhile said the battle for the key city of Goma, which the M23 and Rwandan troops seized last week, had left at least 2,900 people dead -- far higher than the previous death toll of 900.

Breaking a ceasefire it had declared unilaterally, due to come into effect on Tuesday, the M23, together with Rwandan troops, seized a mining town in South Kivu province, resuming its advance towards the provincial capital of Bukavu.

Intense clashes broke out at dawn Wednesday as M23 fighters and Rwandan forces seized the mining town of Nyabibwe, about 100 kilometres (60 miles) from Bukavu and 70 kilometres from the province's airport, security and humanitarian sources told AFP.

The M23 had said in declaring the ceasefire that it had "no intention of taking control of Bukavu or other localities".

"This is proof that the unilateral ceasefire that has been declared was, as usual, a ploy," Congolese government spokesman Patrick Muyaya told AFP.

In more than three years of fighting between the Rwanda-backed group and the Congolese army, half a dozen ceasefires and truces have been declared, before being unceremoniously broken.

Rwandan President Paul Kagame, who denies backing the M23, called for a "de-escalation" in the region.

He said that he had discussed the situation with European Council chief Antonio Costa, and that they had "agreed on the need for effective de-escalation and a resolution to the conflict that... ensures lasting peace."

Kagame and his DRC counterpart Felix Tshisekedi are due to attend a summit of the eight-country East African Community and 16-member Southern African Development Community in the Tanzanian city of Dar es Salaam on Saturday.

A day earlier, the UN Human Rights Council will convene a special session on the crisis, at Kinshasa's request.

- Rising death toll -

Last week's capture of Goma was a major escalation in mineral-rich eastern DRC, scarred by relentless conflict involving dozens of armed groups over three decades.

As Goma counted its dead, Vivian van de Perre, deputy chief of the UN peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO), gave an updated toll from the battle for the city.

"So far, 2,000 bodies have been collected from the Goma streets in recent days, and 900 bodies remain in the morgues of the Goma hospitals," she told a video news conference, saying the toll could rise.

International Criminal Court prosecutors said in a statement they were "closely following" events in the eastern DRC, "including the grave escalation of violence over the past weeks".

- Prayer service -

In Bukavu, a city of one million people that residents fear will become the next battleground, a crowd gathered for an ecumenical prayer service for peace, organised by local women.

"We are tired of the non-stop wars. We want peace," one attendee, Jacqueline Ngengele, told AFP.

Fears the violence could spark a wider conflict have galvanised regional bodies, mediators such as Angola and Kenya, as well as the United Nations, the European Union and other countries to pursue diplomatic efforts for a peaceful resolution.

But the DRC's top diplomat accused the international community of being all talk and no action on the conflict.

"We see a lot of declarations but we don't see actions," Foreign Minister Therese Kayikwamba Wagner told journalists in Brussels.

Several neighbouring countries have already said they are bolstering their defences, wary of the crisis spilling over.

A UN expert report said last year that Rwanda had up to 4,000 troops in the DRC, seeking to profit from its vast mineral wealth, and that Kigali had "de facto" control over the M23.

The eastern DRC has deposits of coltan, a metallic ore that is vital in making phones and laptops, as well as gold and other minerals.

Rwanda has never admitted to military involvement in support of the M23 and alleges that the DRC supports and shelters the FDLR, an armed group created by ethnic Hutus who massacred Tutsis during the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

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Originally published as M23, Rwandan troops launch fresh DR Congo offensive