Ceasefire in DRC as ‘hundreds’ protest in Pretoria [PICS]

As Rwandan-backed armed group M23 declared a humanitarian “ceasefire” in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s perennially explosive east, hundreds of Congolese protested outside the European Union offices in Pretoria.

The group was calling for sanctions on Rwanda.

A UN expert report said last year that Rwanda had up to 4,000 troops in the DRC, seeking to profit from the mining of minerals, and that Kigali has “de facto” control over the M23.

Eastern DRC has deposits of coltan, a metallic ore vital for making phones and laptops, as well as gold and other minerals.

Rwanda has never explicitly admitted to military involvement in support of the M23. It alleges that the DRC backs the FDLR, an armed group created by ethnic Hutus who massacred Tutsis during the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

Around 75 Congolese and international NGOs called Tuesday for an investigation into allegations of abuses by all sides in the fighting.

In Kinshasa, calls have been growing for protests to demand action from the international community. However, the authorities have banned demonstrations after embassies were attacked during previous rallies.

Access to social media has been restricted in Kinshasa since Sunday.

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Ramaphosa vows to keep troops in DRC

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has vowed to keep providing support to the DRC despite nationwide calls to withdraw his country’s troops following the deaths of 14 South African soldiers, whose bodies are due to arrive home on Wednesday.

Most of those killed were part of a SADC force sent to the eastern DRC in 2023.

Fighting stops in Goma

The M23 and Rwandan troops last week seized Goma, the provincial capital of the mineral-rich North Kivu region that has been blighted by conflict from multiple armed groups for over three decades.

Fighting has stopped in the city, which is home to more than a million people, but clashes have spread to the neighbouring province of South Kivu, raising fears of an M23 advance to its capital Bukavu.

According to local sources and humanitarian workers, the M23 and Rwandan troops are now near the mining town of Nyabibwe, around 70 kilometres (45 miles) from Bukavu airport.

No fighting was reported on Tuesday, but all sides have been sending reinforcements and equipment to the region, according to local and military sources.

The M23 said in a statement late Monday it would implement “a ceasefire” from the next day “for humanitarian reasons”.

It added that it had “no intention of taking control of Bukavu or other localities”, despite having said last week that it wanted to “continue the march” across the country to the Congolese capital, Kinshasa.

In more than three years of fighting between the Rwanda-backed group and the Congolese army, half a dozen ceasefires and truces have been declared and broken.

With fears of a regional conflagration spiralling, the Kenyan Presidency announced on Monday that Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi and Rwandan President Paul Kagame would attend a joint summit of the eight-country East African Community (EAC) and the 16-member Southern African Development Community (SADC) in the Tanzanian city of Dar es Salaam on Saturday.

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Call to investigate abuses

The United Nations called to reopen the Goma airport, warning of a “humanitarian emergency”.

“Goma airport is a lifeline. Without it, the evacuation of the seriously injured, the delivery of medical supplies and the reception of humanitarian reinforcements are paralysed,” the UN humanitarian coordinator in the DRC, Bruno Lemarquis, said in a statement.

The University of Goma called on students to return to class on Monday, signalling a desire to return to normal in the city.

At least 900 people were killed in the Goma clashes and 2,880 wounded, according to the UN’s humanitarian body.

The ceasefire follows warnings from international observers that the escalation of violence could worsen an already dire humanitarian situation.

Last week, the Congolese government said more than half a million people had been displaced in North and South Kivu in January alone.

The UN Human Rights Council said it would hold a special session on Friday on the crisis at Kinshasa’s request.

© Agence France-Presse

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