BREAKING: Rwanda-backed rebels seize key town in DRC

Rebel forces backed by Rwanda have captured the town of Masisi in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), according to various reports.

This is the second town seized by the M23 group in as many days in the mineral-rich North Kivu province.

The group has taken control of vast swathes of eastern DRC since 2021, forcing hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes.

Angola has been attempting to mediate talks between president Félix Tshisekedi and his Rwandan counterpart, Paul Kagame. But these broke down last month.

“It is with dismay that we learn of the capture of Masisi centre by the M23,” Alexis Bahunga, a member of North Kivu provincial assembly, has told AFP.

He said this “plunges the territory into a serious humanitarian crisis” and urged the government to strengthen the capacity of the army in the region.

One resident told AFP that M23 had held a meeting of the town’s inhabitants, saying they had “come to liberate the country”.

The Congolese authorities have not yet commented on the loss of the town.

Masisi, which has a population of about 40 000 people, is the capital of the territory of the same name.

It is about 80km north of the North Kivu provincial capital Goma, which M23 briefly occupied in 2012.

On Friday, M23 captured the nearby town of Katale.

Last year, there were fears that M23 would once again march on Goma, a city of about two million people.

However, there was then a lull in fighting until early December when fighting resumed.

In July, Rwanda did not deny a United Nations report saying it had about 4 000 soldiers fighting alongside M23 in DRC.

It accused the Congolese government of not doing enough to tackle decades of conflict in the east of the country. Rwanda has previously said the authorities in DRC were working with some of those responsible for the 1994 Rwandan genocide against ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus.

M23, formed as an offshoot of another rebel group, began operating in 2012 ostensibly to protect the Tutsi population in the east of DRC, which had long complained of persecution and discrimination.

However, Rwanda’s critics are accusing it of using M23 to loot eastern DRC’s minerals, such as gold, cobalt and tantalum, which are used to make cellphones and batteries for electric cars.

Last month, DRC said it was suing Apple over the use of such ‘blood minerals’, prompting the tech giant to say it had stopped getting supplies from the country. – BBC