BBC News - Democratic Republic of Congo: M23 rebel forces 'withdraw'

http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-23894783

Democratic Republic of Congo: M23 rebel forces 'withdraw'

30 August 2013 Last updated at 17:17

M23 fighters in eastern Congo, near Rwanda, have been targeted in an offensive spearheaded by the UN

The M23 rebel group in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has said it will stop fighting, following days of clashes with UN-backed forces.

M23 official Museveni Sendugo told the BBC its forces had already pulled back 5km (three miles) from the frontline.

Rebel leader Bertrand Bisimwa said the pull-back would allow an independent investigation into how shells fell over the border in Rwanda on Thursday.

The Congolese army denies Rwandan accusations it fired the shells.

DR Congo and the UN accuse Rwanda of backing the M23, a charge it denies.

Their troops have been pounding rebel positions on the Congolese side of the border with Rwanda near the city of Goma since last week.

Since the M23 took up arms in 2012, fighting has forced some 800,000 people to flee their homes

They briefly occupied Goma, the main city in eastern DR Congo in November, before withdrawing under diplomatic pressure

A 3,000-strong special UN brigade has been sent to the region to disarm the rebels

UN helicopters have attacked rebels in a joint operation with Congolese government troops

As tension escalated on Thursday, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon appealed to Rwanda's president for restraint.

Rwanda twice invaded its much larger neighbour during the 1990s, and the border area has been unstable for two decades.

Rwanda's Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN in New York, Olivier Nduhungirehe, told the BBC's Focus on Africa that "a red line was crossed" by DR Congo on Thursday when he said a Rwandan woman was killed in cross-border shelling.

The M23 rebels, he said, were an "internal problem" within DR Congo, and the Congolese government "should not drag Rwanda" into the dispute.

He denied allegations by the Congolese information minister that 300 Rwandan troops had been fighting alongside the M23 rebels.

Rwandan Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo on Friday tweeted: "Rwandan troops are not in DRC (yet), when they are, you will know."

A newspaper close to Rwanda's government has published photographs showing a military build-up near the border with DR Congo.

Congolese government spokesman Lambert Mende told the BBC's Newsday programme that M23 rebels were firing onto Rwandan territory "to give Rwanda a pretext for coming in openly in this war".

The UN peacekeeping mission in DR Congo, Monusco, recently deployed a new 3,000-strong intervention brigade to tackle the rebels.

'Cannot be tolerated'

Ms Mushikiwabo on Thursday said that 23 "bombs and rockets" had been fired into Rwanda this week.

She accused DR Congo forces of targeting Rwandan civilians, and said: "We have remained restrained for as long as we can but this provocation can no longer be tolerated."

BBC Great Lakes service editor Ally Yusuf Mugenzi says that even when Rwanda invaded Congolese territory, it never made such strong accusations against the Congolese army.

Congolese army spokesman Col Olivier Hamuli told the BBC that his forces would never fire at civilian populations.

"That could only be rebels," he said, adding that M23 fighters, and not soldiers, were in the area from which the shells were fired.

This was backed up by Mr Ban's assistant, Edmond Mulet, who told the UN Security Council on Thursday that UN forces in the DR Congo had witnessed M23 rebels firing artillery into Rwanda but not the Congolese army, diplomats said.

Mr Mulet ended the session by informing members that Mr Ban had telephoned Rwandan President Paul Kagame to urge restraint.

The UN has boosted its peacekeeping force with a special brigade to disarm rebels

South Africa warning

Meanwhile South Africa, which has troops in the UN force, has warned the rebels not to try to occupy Goma.

"We're trying to send a message to the M23: This time around you're not going to see Goma," Lieutenant General Derrick Mgwebi of South Africa's defence force said, according to the AFP news agency.

At least 800,000 people have fled their homes in DR Congo since the M23 launched its rebellion in April 2012.

They briefly occupied Goma in November 2012 before pulling out under international pressure.

The M23 rebel movement is named after a 23 March 2009 peace deal that ended four years of rebellion in eastern DR Congo.

The rebels complained the Congolese government had failed to honour the agreement, which included integrating them into the army.

The M23 are mainly ethnic Tutsis, like most of Rwanda's leaders.

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.

BBC News - Democratic Republic of Congo: M23 rebel forces 'withdraw'

http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-23894783

Democratic Republic of Congo: M23 rebel forces 'withdraw'

30 August 2013 Last updated at 17:17

M23 fighters in eastern Congo, near Rwanda, have been targeted in an offensive spearheaded by the UN

The M23 rebel group in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has said it will stop fighting, following days of clashes with UN-backed forces.

M23 official Museveni Sendugo told the BBC its forces had already pulled back 5km (three miles) from the frontline.

Rebel leader Bertrand Bisimwa said the pull-back would allow an independent investigation into how shells fell over the border in Rwanda on Thursday.

The Congolese army denies Rwandan accusations it fired the shells.

DR Congo and the UN accuse Rwanda of backing the M23, a charge it denies.

Their troops have been pounding rebel positions on the Congolese side of the border with Rwanda near the city of Goma since last week.

Since the M23 took up arms in 2012, fighting has forced some 800,000 people to flee their homes

They briefly occupied Goma, the main city in eastern DR Congo in November, before withdrawing under diplomatic pressure

A 3,000-strong special UN brigade has been sent to the region to disarm the rebels

UN helicopters have attacked rebels in a joint operation with Congolese government troops

As tension escalated on Thursday, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon appealed to Rwanda's president for restraint.

Rwanda twice invaded its much larger neighbour during the 1990s, and the border area has been unstable for two decades.

Rwanda's Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN in New York, Olivier Nduhungirehe, told the BBC's Focus on Africa that "a red line was crossed" by DR Congo on Thursday when he said a Rwandan woman was killed in cross-border shelling.

The M23 rebels, he said, were an "internal problem" within DR Congo, and the Congolese government "should not drag Rwanda" into the dispute.

He denied allegations by the Congolese information minister that 300 Rwandan troops had been fighting alongside the M23 rebels.

Rwandan Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo on Friday tweeted: "Rwandan troops are not in DRC (yet), when they are, you will know."

A newspaper close to Rwanda's government has published photographs showing a military build-up near the border with DR Congo.

Congolese government spokesman Lambert Mende told the BBC's Newsday programme that M23 rebels were firing onto Rwandan territory "to give Rwanda a pretext for coming in openly in this war".

The UN peacekeeping mission in DR Congo, Monusco, recently deployed a new 3,000-strong intervention brigade to tackle the rebels.

'Cannot be tolerated'

Ms Mushikiwabo on Thursday said that 23 "bombs and rockets" had been fired into Rwanda this week.

She accused DR Congo forces of targeting Rwandan civilians, and said: "We have remained restrained for as long as we can but this provocation can no longer be tolerated."

BBC Great Lakes service editor Ally Yusuf Mugenzi says that even when Rwanda invaded Congolese territory, it never made such strong accusations against the Congolese army.

Congolese army spokesman Col Olivier Hamuli told the BBC that his forces would never fire at civilian populations.

"That could only be rebels," he said, adding that M23 fighters, and not soldiers, were in the area from which the shells were fired.

This was backed up by Mr Ban's assistant, Edmond Mulet, who told the UN Security Council on Thursday that UN forces in the DR Congo had witnessed M23 rebels firing artillery into Rwanda but not the Congolese army, diplomats said.

Mr Mulet ended the session by informing members that Mr Ban had telephoned Rwandan President Paul Kagame to urge restraint.

The UN has boosted its peacekeeping force with a special brigade to disarm rebels

South Africa warning

Meanwhile South Africa, which has troops in the UN force, has warned the rebels not to try to occupy Goma.

"We're trying to send a message to the M23: This time around you're not going to see Goma," Lieutenant General Derrick Mgwebi of South Africa's defence force said, according to the AFP news agency.

At least 800,000 people have fled their homes in DR Congo since the M23 launched its rebellion in April 2012.

They briefly occupied Goma in November 2012 before pulling out under international pressure.

The M23 rebel movement is named after a 23 March 2009 peace deal that ended four years of rebellion in eastern DR Congo.

The rebels complained the Congolese government had failed to honour the agreement, which included integrating them into the army.

The M23 are mainly ethnic Tutsis, like most of Rwanda's leaders.

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.

http://m.news24.com/news24/Africa/News/SA-warns-DRC-rebels-hands-off-Goma-20130830

SA warns DRC rebels 'hands off Goma'

View 40 commentsComment

2013-08-30 15:25

Pretoria - South Africa has warned rebels fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo not to try and retake the battleground city of Goma on Friday after a week of escalating violence.

South Africa is part of the UN peace enforcement military task force to the country's troubled eastern region bordering on Rwanda.

Goma, a mining hub and town of a million people, was briefly held by M23 rebels earlier in the year and still remains under threat.

"We're trying to send a message to the M23, this time around you're not going to see Goma," said Lieutenant General Derrick Mgwebi, South Africa National Defence Force Chief of Joint Operations.

"Don't venture in ideas of taking over again."

South African soldiers are part of a UN intervention brigade, a 3 000-strong contingent with an unprecedented offensive mandate to fight entrenched armed movements, marking a strategic change of tack from traditionally peaceful UN missions.

"This is the first time that a UN peacekeeping force has had as its sole mandate the seeking out and neutralising of rebel groups," said Darren Olivier, a senior correspondent at the African Defence Review, an organisation focused on African security.

"While UN peacekeeping missions in the past have on occasion directly engaged rebel forces, they have done so as part of mandates to defend themselves or population centres only," he said.

Indiscriminate shelling

Fresh fighting flared in the resource-rich eastern DR Congo Thursday, with government forces backed by UN troops shelling rebels near Goma and tensions spilling over into neighbouring Rwanda.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday accused M23 rebels of "indiscriminate shelling" inside the DRC and into Rwanda, where authorities said a woman was killed in artillery fire on Thursday.

"He also calls on all member states with influence in the region to assist in easing tensions," in a statement released by his spokesman Martin Nesirky.

South African snipers have killed at least six M23 rebels in recent days as Ukranian Mi-24P helicopters pounded M23 positions from the air.

Olivier said the United Nations has a significant military edge over their M23 adversaries.

"The biggest advantages they have at the moment are its artillery batteries, mortar teams, special forces commandos and the two Mi-24P attack helicopters providing air support," he said.

This allows the UN forces to "provide effective assistance without needing to engage its infantry battalions directly".

The M23 rebel movement is a predominantly ethnic Tutsi force that deserted from the army last year and has been battling the regular army.

This week the UN force has seen intensified fighting as it attempts to keep rebels from Goma. The fighting took place in Kibati, an area in the northern outskirts of Goma.

Escalating violence 

"Bombs were landing in the airport and in the town," they were "falling left and right" of the South African Munigi base, according to notes distributed by the South African military.

M23 mortars killed a Tanzanian United Nations peacekeeper and injured ten others on Wednesday, according Mgwebi.

"Three of our soldiers have been injured in the conflict since the weekend, largely from shrapnel wounds. None have been seriously wounded," said President Jacob Zuma on Thursday.

South Africa is contributing 1 345 troops to the UN mission, representing approximately half of the intervention brigade.

The escalating violence is a sensitive issue in South Africa, after 15 of the country's soldiers were killed in the Central African Republic in March, amid criticism that the troops were unprepared and did not have adequate equipment.

But Mgwebi said the troops deployed to date have received training and are protected. "They've got something on the ground and fire support is being provided as we speak," he said.

AFP

http://m.news24.com/news24/Africa/News/SA-warns-DRC-rebels-hands-off-Goma-20130830

SA warns DRC rebels 'hands off Goma'

View 40 commentsComment

2013-08-30 15:25

Pretoria - South Africa has warned rebels fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo not to try and retake the battleground city of Goma on Friday after a week of escalating violence.

South Africa is part of the UN peace enforcement military task force to the country's troubled eastern region bordering on Rwanda.

Goma, a mining hub and town of a million people, was briefly held by M23 rebels earlier in the year and still remains under threat.

"We're trying to send a message to the M23, this time around you're not going to see Goma," said Lieutenant General Derrick Mgwebi, South Africa National Defence Force Chief of Joint Operations.

"Don't venture in ideas of taking over again."

South African soldiers are part of a UN intervention brigade, a 3 000-strong contingent with an unprecedented offensive mandate to fight entrenched armed movements, marking a strategic change of tack from traditionally peaceful UN missions.

"This is the first time that a UN peacekeeping force has had as its sole mandate the seeking out and neutralising of rebel groups," said Darren Olivier, a senior correspondent at the African Defence Review, an organisation focused on African security.

"While UN peacekeeping missions in the past have on occasion directly engaged rebel forces, they have done so as part of mandates to defend themselves or population centres only," he said.

Indiscriminate shelling

Fresh fighting flared in the resource-rich eastern DR Congo Thursday, with government forces backed by UN troops shelling rebels near Goma and tensions spilling over into neighbouring Rwanda.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday accused M23 rebels of "indiscriminate shelling" inside the DRC and into Rwanda, where authorities said a woman was killed in artillery fire on Thursday.

"He also calls on all member states with influence in the region to assist in easing tensions," in a statement released by his spokesman Martin Nesirky.

South African snipers have killed at least six M23 rebels in recent days as Ukranian Mi-24P helicopters pounded M23 positions from the air.

Olivier said the United Nations has a significant military edge over their M23 adversaries.

"The biggest advantages they have at the moment are its artillery batteries, mortar teams, special forces commandos and the two Mi-24P attack helicopters providing air support," he said.

This allows the UN forces to "provide effective assistance without needing to engage its infantry battalions directly".

The M23 rebel movement is a predominantly ethnic Tutsi force that deserted from the army last year and has been battling the regular army.

This week the UN force has seen intensified fighting as it attempts to keep rebels from Goma. The fighting took place in Kibati, an area in the northern outskirts of Goma.

Escalating violence 

"Bombs were landing in the airport and in the town," they were "falling left and right" of the South African Munigi base, according to notes distributed by the South African military.

M23 mortars killed a Tanzanian United Nations peacekeeper and injured ten others on Wednesday, according Mgwebi.

"Three of our soldiers have been injured in the conflict since the weekend, largely from shrapnel wounds. None have been seriously wounded," said President Jacob Zuma on Thursday.

South Africa is contributing 1 345 troops to the UN mission, representing approximately half of the intervention brigade.

The escalating violence is a sensitive issue in South Africa, after 15 of the country's soldiers were killed in the Central African Republic in March, amid criticism that the troops were unprepared and did not have adequate equipment.

But Mgwebi said the troops deployed to date have received training and are protected. "They've got something on the ground and fire support is being provided as we speak," he said.

AFP

http://www.rfi.fr/afrique/20130831-ban-ki-moon-hausse-le-ton-contre-le-rwanda

Article publié le : samedi 31 août 2013 à 04:17 - Dernière modification le : samedi 31 août 2013 à 07:23

Ban Ki-moon hausse le ton contre le Rwanda

Le secrétaire général de l'ONU Ban Ki-moon accuse le Rwanda de soutenir les rebelles du M23.

REUTERS/Charles Platiau

Par RFI

L'ONU persiste et signe sur sa conviction que les obus tirés sur le Rwanda l'ont été par le M23 et non par l'armée congolaise. Après les déclarations du chef des opérations de maintien de paix de l'ONU (Monusco), le 29 août lors d'une réunion à huis clos devant le Conseil de sécurité selon lesquelles des soldats rwandais s'étaient infiltrés ces derniers jours au Nord-Kivu pour appuyer les rebelles du M23, c'est au tour du secrétaire général des Nations unies Ban Ki-moon d'enfoncer le clou et de confirmer publiquement ces accusations.

 

Avec notre correspondant à New York, Karim Lebhour

L'ONU est convaincue que c'est le M23 qui tire des obus contre le Rwanda et non les forces congolaises. Jusqu'ici ces accusations n'avaient été faites qu'à huis clos. Ban Ki-moon le dit maintenant très officiellement dans une déclaration.

Le secrétaire général parle de « tirs non ciblés du M23 » dans les zones frontalières du Rwanda et sur les positions des casques bleus. Cette affirmation de Ban Ki-moon est en contradiction directe avec la version du Rwanda qui accuse l'armée congolaise de tirer son territoire et menace d'intervenir.

Cette déclaration est de nature à tendre encore un peu plus les relations entre le Rwanda et les Nations unies. Même si Ban Ki-moon ne va pas jusqu'à le dire publiquement, la thèse parmi les diplomates onusiens est que le Rwanda se sert du M23 pour provoquer des incidents et justifier une intervention militaire.

Le représentant rwandais s'est retrouvé très isolé jeudi devant le Conseil de sécurité. « Si je dois croire quelqu'un,lui a lancé l'ambassadeur du Guatemala, je fais confiance à la parole de l'ONU avant celle du Rwanda ».