Fighting stalls in east Congo as troops push back M23 rebels
A major offensive by M23 rebels in the east Democratic Republic of Congo appeared to have stalled on Saturday after the army took back some ground, two civil society sources and a local official said.
The group of rebels has seized Goma, the largest city in East Congo and capital of North Kivu province, which is home to lucrative gold, coltan, and tin mines.
They then moved on towards Bukavu in South Kivu province, adding to fears of a wider regional conflict, but appeared to be held up on Friday by Congolese troops supported by Burundi’s army.
Local civil society leader Justin Mulindangabo said Congo’s army had taken back the villages of Mukwija, Shanje, Numbi, and Nyamasasa and other localities in Kalehe territory, around halfway between Goma and Bukavu.
Another civil society source said there was no fighting in Kalehe on Saturday morning.
A local official said the army had strengthened its position in Kalehe and retaken several villages, including Mukwija. The source, who did not wish to be named for security reasons, said fighting was continuing elsewhere.
Burundian troops have been reinforcing Congolese forces in South Kivu and elsewhere at the request of the Kinshasa government.
Separately, DR Congo’s health ministry said there were 773 bodies in hospital morgues in and around the eastern city of Goma as of Jan. 30 following the offensive by the M23 rebels this week.
Morgues have exceeded their capacity, and there are more bodies still lying in the streets, the ministry said, adding that 2,880 wounded were recorded between Jan. 26 and Jan. 30.
For context, the M23 rebels captured Goma in 2012 but withdrew days later after an agreement brokered by neighbouring nations.
The 2012 fall of Goma led to the deployment of a new U.N. force, an overhaul of the Congolese army, and diplomatic pressure on Rwanda, leading to the M23’s defeat the next year and a deal calling for its demobilisation.
But the group never fully disarmed and launched a fresh offensive in 2022 that has seen it capture vast swathes of mineral-rich North Kivu province, including lucrative mines.
For more than a year, M23 has controlled Congo’s coltan-mining region of Rubaya, generating an estimated $800,000 per month through a production tax, according to the U.N. Coltan is used in the production of smartphones and other equipment.
Congo is the world’s top producer of tantalum and cobalt, a key component in batteries for electric vehicles and mobile phones, and is also home to significant coltan and gold deposits.
