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M23 captures key town in east DRC amid mass displacement: Reports

Author: Chany Ninrew | Published: January 22, 2025

M23 rebels look on in Kibumba in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, on December 23, 2022. The Tutsi-led group has conquered swaths of territory in North Kivu province in recent months and come within several dozen kilometres of Goma. | Photo: AFP

The March 23 rebels have seized Minova town, a key supply route to Goma in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, adding to several strategic towns that it took in recent week and leading to a mass exodus of people, according to media reports citing local authorities.

South Kivu’s Provincial Governor Jean-Jacques Purusi confirmed the capture of Minova to Associated Press, adding that the rebels have also captured the mining towns of Lumbishi, Numbi and Shanje. The group also took Bweremana town in neighboring North Kivu province.

Congo’s military said on Tuesday that the rebels made “breakthroughs” in Minova and Bweremana, falling short of confirming if the M23 captured the towns.

Minova is a strategically important port on the shores of Lake Kivu and a transit point for many agricultural goods heading to Goma, about 28 miles (45 kilometers) away.

More than 237,000 people have been displaced by the fighting in eastern Congo since the beginning of this year, the United Nations refugee agency said in a recent report.

Fighting has been taking place on several fronts around Goma and hundreds of thousands of people are displaced around the outskirts of the city, which was briefly captured by the M23 in 2012, according to Al Jazeera news outlet.

Many routes leading to Goma have been cut off by fighting, and people often cross Lake Kivu with supplies on overloaded boats.

Eastern DRC has been racked by decades of fighting between government forces and more than 120 armed groups, often involving bombs targeting civilians as the militias seek a share of the region’s gold and other resources.

Chief among them is M23, a militant group composed of ethnic Tutsis who broke away from the Congolese army just over a decade ago and rose to prominence in 2012 when its fighters seized Goma.

DR Congo, the United States and U.N. experts accuse neighboring Rwanda of backing M23, while Kigali denies the claim.

M23 has been making significant advances in eastern Congo, capturing the key mining town of Masisi in North Kivu earlier this month, another key supply route for Goma, AP reported.

 

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