The rebel group March 23 Movement (M23) has accused the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) of «creating chaos» through the «externalization of the conflict» and reiterated its allegations about the use of «mercenaries» by Kinshasa in the fighting in the province of North Kivu (east).
«The DRC government is creating chaos in our country and in the Great Lakes region by externalizing the conflict and using mercenaries to fight against the M23 on all front lines alongside the government coalition,» said the group’s spokesman, Lawrence Kanyuka.
He stressed that the Congolese authorities «have violated international law» with the recruitment of these alleged mercenaries and has accused the United Nations Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO) for being a «pillar» of the military offensive of the army and several allied militias.
«From the beginning, the Congolese government should have been deprived of any support, but MONUSCO has instead become the pillar of the coalition, which goes against its own code of impartiality, being implicated in the violation of the cease-fire,» he argued.
The group’s spokesman stressed that «MONUSCO uses its drones to carry out reconnaissance on M23 positions on behalf of the Congolese government coalition, which then bombs with Sukhoi-25s, tanks and heavy artillery».
«The M23 condemns the continued bombing of densely populated areas by the coalition with the help of MONUSCO. The M23 continues to defend itself in a professional manner and protect the civilian population and their belongings and will spare no effort in dealing with the threat, wherever it comes from,» he concluded.
The M23 is a rebel group made up mainly of Congolese Tutsis and operating mainly in North Kivu province. After a conflict between 2012 and 2013, DRC and the group signed a peace agreement in December. In the fighting, the DRC Army was supported by UN troops.
The group launched a new offensive in October 2022, which intensified in November, sparking a diplomatic crisis between the DRC and Rwanda over its role in the conflict. UN experts pointed in December to the existence of «substantial evidence» of a «direct intervention» of the Rwandan army in the conflict.
They also highlighted collusion between the Congolese Army and various armed groups, including the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) and the Mai-Mai, to combat the M23, including the proposal by armed groups to «mobilize 600 fighters» to reinforce the ranks of the Armed Forces.
Rwanda has accused the DRC of supporting the 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. It has also denounced discrimination and acts of hatred against the Tutsi minority in the neighboring country.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
