The rebel group March 23 Movement (M23) has blamed the Army of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for the attack executed over the weekend against a helicopter of the United Nations Mission in DRC (MONUSCO), which resulted in the death of a ‘blue helmet’.
The M23 has indicated in a communiqué that Kinshasa «has distanced itself from the conclusions» of the summit held on Saturday by regional leaders and has set «new conditions for a cease-fire», amidst the upsurge of fighting in the east of the African country.
«The decision of the DRC government was materialized on the ground with their firing on a MONUSCO helicopter, a common occurrence when they are losing on the battlefield,» he has said, before pointing to a similar incident in March 2022.
Thus, he has stated that «MONUSCO, which has not yet published the conclusions of its investigations (on last year’s incident), knows only too well that this attack took place outside the areas controlled by the M23.»
«By attributing responsibility for the said attack to the M23 (…), the DRC government continues to consciously push MONUSCO to support its warmongering path against the M23,» said the spokesman for the group’s political wing, Lawrence Kanyuka.
In this sense, he denounced new attacks against «M23 positions» in Masisi during the day on Monday and argued that they «clearly reflect the DRC’s decision to ignore the resolutions» of the summit held in the Burundian city of Bujumbura.
«The continuation of the killings of Tutsis, the destruction and looting of Tutsi property by subordinates of the DRC government in the city of Goma is definitive proof that the government continues to create chaos, instead of promoting peace and stability,» he explained.
Kanyuka also thanked the Catholic Church for its «act of courage» in hosting 400 people who «escaped targeted killings and an ongoing genocide» in a monastery in Masisi. «Our movement implores our compatriots to continue to reject this evil ideology and to follow the example of the Catholic monastery of Mokoto,» he concluded.
The M23 is a rebel group made up mainly of Congolese Tutsis and operating mainly in the province of North Kivu. After a conflict between 2012 and 2013, DRC and the group signed a peace agreement in December. In that fighting, the DRC Army was supported by UN troops. The group launched a new offensive in October 2022, which intensified in November, triggering a diplomatic crisis between the DRC and Rwanda over its role in the conflict.
Rwanda has accused the DRC of supporting the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) — an armed rebel group founded and composed mainly of Hutus responsible for the 1994 genocide in Rwanda — and of using the Mai-Mai militias — Congolese nationalist militias formed to defend their tribal territory against the numerous rebel groups active since the 1990s — in the framework of the conflict. He has also denounced discrimination and acts of hatred against the Tutsi minority in the neighboring country.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
