A U.N. official said late on Tuesday that fighters belonging to the March 23 (M23) rebel movement in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) appeared to be pulling out of the eastern city of Goma they had captured last week, but he stressed the development could be confirmed only on Wednesday.
"There were indications tonight that possibly the M23 elements were starting to withdraw. There were indications, but of course that was already late the evening, and that will have to be confirmed tomorrow," U.N. peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous told reporters at the U.N. headquarters in New York late on Tuesday. He made the remarks after a Security Council meeting on the ongoing conflict.
African leaders who attended the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region Summit in the Ugandan capital Kampala on Saturday had urged the rebel group to halt its hostile actions and threats to destabilize the DRC government. They also demanded the withdrawal of rebel fighters from Goma as a pre-condition for initiating talks with the DRC government.
Subsequently, M23 military commander Sultani Makenga flew to Kampala on Monday for talks with Ugandan military officials. Later, Ugandan military chief Aronda Nyakairima announced that the M23 commander had assured him that the rebels would pull out of Goma in the coming days.
Nevertheless, M23's political leader Jean-Marie Runiga told reporters in Goma on Tuesday that the rebel group would remain in Goma while awaiting talks with DRC President Joseph Kabila Kabange.
Runiga also put forward several pre-conditions for withdrawing from Goma, including the disarmament of all government forces in the rebel-held regions and the release of Opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi.
A former Prime Minister, Tshisekedi has been under unofficial house-arrest since declaring victory in flawed elections last year. The ballot was officially won by President Kabila, who succeeded his assassinated father in 2001.
Runiga also warned that the rebels would advance to capital Kinshasa and overthrow the DRC government there if President Kabila refused to enter into negotiations with the rebel group and accept the pre-conditions for withdrawal from Goma. However, the DRC government has reportedly rejected the rebel demands.
The M23 comprises mainly soldiers who mutinied from the DRC national army in April as well as members of a former Congolese Tutsi rebel group which signed a peace accord with the DRC government in 2009. Notably, the M23 offensive which began last week has displaced some 600,000 civilians in the North Kivu province. The rebels insist that the DRC government failed to honor the terms of a 2009 peace deal which promised them army posts.
The U.N. peacekeeping mission in the DRC, better known by the French acronym MONUSCO, is continuing to hold its positions in Goma "to protect civilians from imminent threat." The world body said it had received reports indicating that the M23 had destroyed and looted property, wounded civilians and abducted children and women from Goma.
MONUSCO, with 19,000 uniformed personnel, is the latest iteration of U.N. peacekeeping missions deployed in DR Congo. In late June, the Security Council extended the mission's mandate for one more year. U.N. peace-keepers were first sent to DR Congo in 1999 as part of international efforts to end the 1999-2002 civil war and establish peace in the region. The fighting had dragged in six other countries and left more than four million people dead.
Notably, a report released by U.N. experts last Wednesday had accused Rwanda and Uganda of supporting the M23 rebel group. It alleged that the rebel movement was being commanded by Rwandan Defense Minister James Kabarebe. It also accused both Rwanda and Uganda of sending troops to support the M23 rebels in their fight against Congolese government troops.
The report was discussed at the Security Council on Wednesday itself. Both Rwanda and Uganda had denied the allegations earlier after the report was leaked last month. Notably, M23 rebels as well as members of the Rwandan government are mostly ethnic Tutsis.
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