EU calls for dismantling of M23
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DR Congo Fardc governmental soldiers load a missile launcher outside Bunagana in DR Congo close to the Uganda border on Thursday, the day before, DR Congo troops captured the last stronghold of M23 rebels in the troubled east of the country, raising hopes of a return to the negotiating table. PHOTO | AFP
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The fighting displaced thousands of people in the region north of Goma, a mining hub and the capital of North Kivu, which is rich in precious minerals and farm produce.
Brussels, Saturday.The European Union has called on the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo and the rebel M23 movement to negotiate the dismantling of the armed group after its military defeat.
“We call for a rapid political conclusion to the Kampala talks between the M23 and the government of the DRC with a view to... the definitive dismantling of this armed group,” Sebastien Brabant, a spokesman for the EU’s diplomatic service, said late Thursday. The DR Congo army, backed by the UN mission in the vast country (Monusco), has seized control of all of the M23 strongholds in the strife-torn North Kivu province in a week-long offensive. Late Thursday, government troops were attacking diehard rebel units holed up in the hills.
But Brabant warned against “any abuses or acts of reprisal that could be committed against civilians”. The fighting displaced thousands of people in the region north of Goma, a mining hub and the capital of North Kivu, which is rich in precious minerals and farm produce. The Movement of March 23 (M23) is a mainly ethnic Tutsi force comprised of former rebels who were taken into the ranks of the army under a 2009 peace deal, then mutinied in April 2012, accusing Kinshasa of reneging on the accord.
Peace negotiations began in the Ugandan capital Kampala last December, but were frequently suspended. The army went on the offensive five days after the talks collapsed when Kinshasa refused amnesty for about 80 M23 leaders.
DR Congo’s President Joseph Kabila last Wednesday issued a fresh call for M23 rebels to demobilise voluntarily and warned that they faced being disarmed by force, but he left the way open for further talks in Kampala.
Meanwhile, The DR Congo government has re-established it’s authority in the restive North Kivu Province after chasing away the M23 rebels from their last stronghold at Rutshuru District.
North Kivu Internal Affairs minister Valentin Mbalutwirandi announced the reinstatement of the district police chief and the mayor of the city of Kiwanja, who were forced out when the rebels took charge.
About 100 policemen were deployed to Rutshuru and Kiwanja ahead of the reinstallation ceremony.
Rutshuru and Nyiragongo districts have been declared disaster-stricken areas due to the atrocities inflicted on the local people during the M23 occupation.
The new administrators have been instructed to desist from erecting road barriers and raising taxes before the end of the year.
The measures have been taken to relieve the local people of the sufferings inflicted on them by the rebel movement’s administration.
Normalcy is gradually being restored in the two districts after the M23 rebel troops were chased away following the fall on Wednesday of Bunagana, at the border between DRC and Uganda.
Bunagana was captured by the government forces backed by the UN Intervention Brigade.
According to local sources, the M23 leaders, both political and military, crossed the border for the neighbouring Ugandan city of Kisoro.
The President of the rebel movement, Mr Bertrand Bisimwa, travelled to Kampala to join the M23 delegation at the peace talks.
He told reporters that the M23 troops were still strongly defending some areas under their control. These, he named as Chanzu, Mbuzi and Runyonyi, the hills around Bunagana. However, there was no communication about the whereabouts of the rebel chief commander, Col Sultani Makenga.
Civilians who fled Bunagana for Kisoro were returning home following the government takeover.
According to Goma based media, the returnees have been welcomed by the loyal troops who assured them that the war was over.
The government forces and their allies were reportedly conducting a house-to-house clean-up operation to track down any rebel remnants.
“We are now securing the city after the rebels fled,” said Col Olivier Amuli, the army spokesman.
“We have found a lot of weapons that they abandoned here. Their political leaders have crossed the border and about 40 fighters are headed toward Runyonyi, and we are tracking them down.”
In an address to the nation late Wednesday, President Joseph Kabila warned the remaining M23 members to demobilise voluntarily. “Failure to do so, will leave us with no option but to make them to do so by force,” said President Kabila. (AFP)