M23 rebels capture key eastern DRC city of Minova. armed group news
Officials say M23 rebels have captured the town of Minowa, a trading hub in the eastern provincial capital Goma.
Officials said M23 rebels have captured the town of Minowa in eastern DR Congo, a key supply route to the provincial capital Goma.
South Kivu’s provincial governor, Jean-Jacques Purussi, confirmed the capture of Minova on Tuesday, saying rebels had also captured the mining towns of Lumbishi, Numbi and Shanje in the same province, as well as the neighboring town of Bweremana. North Kivu Province.
The army of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) acknowledged that rebels had achieved “success” in Minova and Bweremana. It did not say whether the towns were captured.
M23, or March 23 Movement, is an armed group made up of ethnic Tutsis that broke away from the Congolese army more than 10 years ago. Since its resurgence in 2022, the M23 has continued to make gains in eastern DRC.
It is one of about 100 armed groups trying to gain a foothold in mineral-rich eastern Congo in a decades-long conflict that has sparked one of the world’s biggest humanitarian crises.
Since 1998, approximately 6 million people have been killed while approximately 7 million have been internally displaced.
More than 237,000 people have been displaced by fighting in eastern Congo since the beginning of the year, the UN refugee agency said in a report on Monday.
The DRC and the UN accuse Rwanda of supporting the M23 with troops and weapons – a charge Rwanda denies.
battle near goma
Fighting is taking place on multiple fronts around Goma and hundreds of thousands of people are displaced on the outskirts of the city, which was briefly captured by M23 in 2012.
Speaking from Goma, Al Jazeera’s Alain Uyqani said that “people in Goma are concerned about front-line bombs reaching the city’s neighbourhoods.”
Many roads leading to Goma are closed due to fighting and people often cross Lake Kivu carrying goods in heavy boats. Incidents of shipwrecks on the lake are frequent.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said most international organizations and NGOs based in Minova have temporarily suspended their activities.
