Congo's army says it is heading for rebel stronghold
By Kenny Katombe and Chrispin Mvano
By Kenny Katombe and Chrispin Mvano
Sunday October 27th 2013....11.17 a.m.
47 minutes ago
KINSHASA (Reuters) - The Congolese army said it had recaptured two more towns
and was heading for the rebel stronghold of Rutshuru in a third day of fighting
on Sunday, raising the prospect of a military victory by government forces.
A Congolese army officer on the front line said it had taken the towns of
Kiwanja and Kalingera from the M23 rebels on Sunday, a day after wresting the
strategic town of Kibumba near the Rwandan border from the insurgents.
Fighting was continuing at Kiguri, 25 km (15
miles) north of Goma, the biggest city in eastern Congo, he said.
The army had also opened a second front to
the north of M23 positions and was moving southward to Rutshuru, officers
said.
"We are consolidating the zones we have conquered," army spokesman Colonel
Olivier Hamuli told Reuters near the front line. "Very soon we will take
Rutshuru. Those who disarm we will accept, the others we will pursue."
M23 said in a statement on Sunday it had withdrawn its troops from Kiwanja,
accusing the army of sending in fighters in civilian clothing in a bid to draw
U.N. troops into the conflict.
M23 threatened to withdraw its delegation from stalled peace talks in the
Ugandan capital Kampala unless there was an immediate end to hostilities. It
said it would then launch a large-scale counter-offensive.
Following two months of relative calm, fighting flared up on Friday morning
after talks broke down when M23 pressed for a full amnesty for its leaders. Each
side blamed the other for starting the fighting.
AMNESTY DEMAND
Congolese President Joseph Kabila said unconditional amnesty was not an
option and last week threatened a return to military action.
Congo's army, supported by a new United Nations intervention brigade, scored
its first victories against the 20-month-old rebel movement in late August,
forcing the rebels away from Goma.
The U.N. brigade has a tough new mandate to eliminate armed groups in the
eastern provinces, though it has not been involved in the last three days of
fighting.
The support of the brigade and the weakening of the rebels has fuelled belief
that Congo's army - notoriously disorganized, 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.
U.N. investigators and the Congolese government have accused Rwanda of
supporting M23, charges Rwanda has repeatedly denied.
Hamuli said some M23 fighters had fled towards the Rwandan border in the face
of the army advance.
"There are small pockets of M23 resistance in the hills near Rwanda," he
said. "We think Rwanda has to prove its good faith and oblige M23 to disarm, or
disarm them itself."
He refused to discuss the possibility of a return to peace talks in Kampala.
"We are soldiers," he said. "We will continue to do our jobs as soldiers."
(Reporting by Daniel Flynn; editing by Andrew Roche)
=====================
Congolese army says it has taken 2 more towns
Sunday October 27th 2013....11.17 a.m.
2 hours
ago
GOMA, Congo (AP) — The Congolese army says it has taken two more towns in
eastern Congo in fresh fighting against the M23 rebels.
Army spokesman Lt. Col. Olivier Hamuli told The Associated Press that the army on Sunday gained control of Kiwanja and Buhumba towns in the Rutshuru area of North Kivu province, near Congo's border with Rwanda.
The army, using tanks and heavy artillery, is fighting the M23 rebels in the hills surrounding Kibumba town. The army said it won control of Kibumba on Saturday and now is advancing on the M23 rebels who retreated to the hills toward the Rwandan border.
United Nations forces are not participating in the fighting, but are in armored personnel carriers and jeeps with mounted machine guns several kilometers (miles) behind the army forces.
Army spokesman Lt. Col. Olivier Hamuli told The Associated Press that the army on Sunday gained control of Kiwanja and Buhumba towns in the Rutshuru area of North Kivu province, near Congo's border with Rwanda.
The army, using tanks and heavy artillery, is fighting the M23 rebels in the hills surrounding Kibumba town. The army said it won control of Kibumba on Saturday and now is advancing on the M23 rebels who retreated to the hills toward the Rwandan border.
United Nations forces are not participating in the fighting, but are in armored personnel carriers and jeeps with mounted machine guns several kilometers (miles) behind the army forces.
UN Tanzanian soldier killed in DR Congo fighting
Kinshasa (AFP) - A Tanzanian officer with UN forces
operating alongside government troops in the eastern Democratic Republic of
Congo was killed in fighting with rebels on Sunday, the UN mission
said.
AFP21
mins ago
COMMENTS:
No Slacker
The M23 rebels have
some interesting demands. One is that they be "paid and fed", for....forever?
Apparently they want money from society for all the good rebelling work they
have done over the past few years. I envision the they are the Congo equivalent
of American "adults" who leech off their single Mom at 23.
Jack Smith
Honestly. If you ask the Congolese, Don't you think
they would want the EUROPEANS BACK.
Bob Kahn
No. Their current problems are as a result of the Belgian colonization. Apparently you haven't read Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad.
