{"id":5319,"date":"2023-01-27T15:51:03","date_gmt":"2023-01-27T15:51:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/amnewsworld.com\/?p=5319"},"modified":"2023-01-27T15:51:03","modified_gmt":"2023-01-27T15:51:03","slug":"rebels-capture-key-eastern-town-in-democratic-republic-of-congo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.amnewsworld.com\/fi\/rebels-capture-key-eastern-town-in-democratic-republic-of-congo\/","title":{"rendered":"Rebels capture key eastern town in Democratic Republic of Congo"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The M23 rebel group has captured Kitshanga, a stratregic town in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo from government troops, in its latest seizure of territory in North Kivu province.<\/p>\n

Hundreds of civilians have fled their homes.<\/p>\n

The rebels took the town on Thursday evening, after capturing several villages on the road that links it to the provincial capital Goma.<\/p>\n

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Kitshanga sits on the last open route between North Kivu’s main economic hubs of Goma and Butembo. The others were cut off due to the fighting.<\/p>\n

“We tactically withdrew outside the city, in order to attract these genocidaires in depth and to avoid the worst for our populations of Kitshanga”, lieutenant-colonel Guillaume Ndjike, spokesman of the military governor of North Kivu told AFP. “We are doing everything we can to dislodge this enemy,” he added.<\/p>\n

“We are with rebels here in the city,” said a Kitshanga resident interviewed from Goma. “The M23 controls all of Kitshanga and this morning the rebels are advancing towards Mweso.”<\/p>\n

Kinshasa for months has accused neighboring Rwanda of supporting the M23 group \u2014 whose origins lie in the region’s ethnic fighting \u2014 and powerful voices in the West have openly agreed. Rwanda denies backing the group, which is one of the dozens operating in the mineral-rich east.<\/p>\n

At a Nov. 23 summit in Angola, which included Congo\u2019s president and Rwanda\u2019s foreign minister, regional leaders called for a cease-fire in eastern Congo to be followed by a withdrawal of rebels from major towns under M23 control.<\/p>\n

The group said it would leave some of the occupied territories before Jan. 15, but some areas remain under its control and it’s seeking to capture others from government forces. M23 has been accused by the United Nations and rights groups of atrocities against civilians.<\/p>\n

Many of Kitshanga’s inhabitants fled Thursday’s violence.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have just been through the war in Kitshanga, we saw M23 killing people, we were afraid, that\u2019s why we fled so we wouldn\u2019t die too,\u201d said Angelique Mukeshimana. The mother of four went to a makeshift displacement site on the outskirts of Goma, some 150 kilometers away, leaving all her belongings behind.<\/p>\n

The fighting comes days before Pope Francis is due in Congo’s capital Kinshasa for a three-day visit. The trip was originally supposed to include a stop in the east, however, the Vatican scrapped that amid the rising violence.<\/p>\n

M23\u2032s political spokesman, Lawrence Kanyuka, in a statement on Thursday accused government troops of attacking civilians in Kitchanga and elsewhere, and said the rebel group was \u201cobliged to intervene and stop another genocide.\u201d<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for a United Nations peacekeeping mission in Congo said more than 500 civilians have taken refuge in and around the U.N. peacekeeping base in Kitchanga, where they’ve been given tents, food, water and first aid.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe M23 must cease all hostilities and withdraw from the occupied areas,” Ndeye Khady Lo said.<\/p>\n

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