The M23 backed by Rwanda is closing in the city of Kavumu in southern Kivu in an offensive that has left thousands of people dead and displaced large quantities.
A summit of African leaders to address the crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo (RDC) has ordered the Army Chiefs to meet within five days and “provide technical direction on a high immediate and unconditional fire.”
The meeting, which came to an end in Tanzania on Saturday, brought together the leaders of the Eastern Africa Community (EAC) of eight nations (EAC) and the South Development Community of 16 members (SADC).
He also asked for an opening of humanitarian corridors to evacuate the dead and injured.
The M23 armed group backed by Rwanda has quickly seized stripes of territory in the Eastern RDC rich in minerals in an offensive that has left thousands dead and displaced large numbers. Ruanda denies military support for M23.
The group took the strategic city of rubber, capital of the province of North Kivu, last week and is pushing towards neighbor South Kivu in the last episode of a decades agitation in the region.
The summit arrived in the middle of Saturday reports that the M23 was closing in the city of Kavumu in southern Kivu, which houses a critical airport to supply Congolese troops.
“We call on all the parties that update the fire, and specifically in the M23 to stop an additional advance and the armed forces of the RD to cease all the reprisal measures,” said Kenya's president, William Ruto, The current president of the EAC, in opening comments.
Since the M23 resurfaced in 2021, the peace conversations organized by Angola and Kenia have failed, and have collapsed multiple cessation affirms. The offensive has increased the fears of the regional war, since several countries are dedicated to militarily supporting the RDC, including South Africa, Burundi and Malawi.
A United Nations report said last year that Ruanda had approximately 4,000 troops in the RDC and benefited from smuggling outside the country, large amounts of gold and Coltan, a vital mineral for portable phones and computers.
Rwanda accuses the RDC of protecting the FDLR, an armed group created by ethnic Hutus that massacred Tutsis during the 1994 Rwanda genocide.
The UN Head of the Rights, Volker Turk, warned Friday that “if nothing is done, the worst can be to come for the people of the Eastern RDC but also beyond the borders of the country.”
Turk said almost 3,000 people had been killed and 2,880 wounds since M23 entered rubber on January 26, and that final tolls would probably be much higher.
He also said that his team was “currently verifying multiple accusations of rape, group violation and sexual slavery.”
