DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: Fighting in eastern DRC enters a fourth day as government forces backed by a multinational U.N. force say they have captured the rebel stronghold of Rutshuru

Record ID: 375655

  • Title: DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: Fighting in eastern DRC enters a fourth day as government forces backed by a multinational U.N. force say they have captured the rebel stronghold of Rutshuru
  • Date: 28th October 2013
  • Summary: KIBUMBA, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (OCTOBER 27, 2013) (REUTERS) ARMED FORCES OF THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (FARDC) SOLDIERS TAKING COVER AS GUNFIRE IS HEARD IN THE BACKGROUND VARIOUS OF AN ARMED FEMALE FARDC SOLDIER VARIOUS OF FARDC TANKS, TROOPS WALKING TOWARDS FRONTLINE FARDC TROOPS WALKING IN FOREST TOWARDS FRONTLINE, GUNFIRE HEARD IN THE BACKGROUND VARIOUS OF
  • Embargoed: 12th November 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Congo, The Democratic Republic of the
  • Country: Congo, Democratic Republic of
  • Topics: General,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA40WCO2X4HD0W0TW7JYSZH3CF0
  • Story Text: Fierce fighting entered the fourth day on Monday (October 28) in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo after government forces said they captured the rebel stronghold of Rutshuru in which one U.N. peacekeeper was killed and another injured.
    Following two months of relative calm in the region, fighting flared on Friday after peace talks in neighbouring Uganda broke down when M23 rebels demanded a full amnesty for their leaders.
    President Joseph Kabila last week ruled out a blanket pardon.
    Three days of victories by government forces have raised the prospect that the army could defeat Congo's most important rebel group, ending a 20-month uprising which has displaced tens of thousands of people.
    Army spokesman Colonel Olivier Hamuli told Reuters Television that government forces had recaptured Rutshuru, some 70 km (43 miles) north of Goma, the largest city in eastern Congo after rebel forces retreated under pressure.
    Rutshuru had been taken by the rebels just over a year ago and was serving as a regional base.
    "M23 are very afraid and are retreating. The entire Congolese population is behind us and we will not let them down again. This is our country and we have to take back every inch of of our territory and ensure that the whole of Congo is governed," said Colonel Hamuli The army, which is attacking the rebel enclave in north Kivu province from the north and south, took the town of Kiwanja earlier on Sunday, a day after wresting the strategic outpost of Kibumba on the Rwandan border.
    M23 said in a statement on Sunday it had withdrawn its troops from Kiwanja, accusing the army of sending in fighters in civilian clothing to try to draw U.N. troops into the conflict.
    M23 threatened to withdraw its delegation from the stalled peace talks in Kampala unless there was an immediate end to hostilities. It said it would then launch a large-scale counter-offensive.
    Civilians living around the frontline area started fleeing their homes late Sunday for Goma, the provincial capital of North Kivu in anticipation of a counter attack from the rebel outfit.
    "We are very happy because our government is finally chasing the M23 rebels," said Joseph Bahati, a resident of Kibumba The U.N. mission in Congo (MONUSCO) said the Tanzanian peacekeeper was killed during fighting with M23 in Kiwanja. The previous round of clashes between the army and rebels in late August killed at least two Tanzanian peacekeepers.
    Rwanda, which denies U.N. experts' allegations that it supports the rebels, said on Friday that Congolese army shells had landed in its territory, raising fears of a regional conflict.
    Congo's army, supported by a new U.N. intervention brigade, scored its first victories against the rebel movement, which has been fighting for nearly two years, in late August, forcing the rebels away from Goma.
    The support of the brigade and the weakening of the rebels has fuelled belief that Congo's army - notoriously disorganised, undisciplined and under-supplied - could defeat M23.
    Army sources told Reuters reporters in Goma that M23 had been weakened by desertions, with some 40 rebels taking advantage of a corridor created by the government troops to allow then to flee rebel lines.
    M23 began in early 2012 as a mutiny by soldiers demanding the government implement the terms of a 2009 peace deal signed with a previous Rwanda-backed rebel group, many of whose members had been integrated into the army.
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