DRC leader vows ‘vigorous’ response as Rwanda-backed fighters advance

The Democratic Republic of the Congo’s president has vowed a “vigorous” military response against Rwandan-backed fighters who have advanced further in the mineral-rich east of the country after seizing most of the region’s main city.

The Rwanda-backed M23’s capture of most of Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, in recent days is a dramatic escalation of a years-long campaign that has seen it seize swathes of territory in eastern DRC.

M23, the March 23 Movement, is among a string of rival armed groups in eastern DRC, which has been plagued by internal and cross-border violence for the past three decades.

The M23 offensive has rattled the continent, with regional blocs in Eastern and Southern Africa calling emergency summits, and the United Nations, United States, China and European Union urging an end to fighting.

DRC President Felix Tshisekedi, in his first remarks since M23 rebels captured much of Goma, said in a late-night address on Wednesday that a “vigorous and coordinated response against these terrorists and their sponsors is under way”.

He blasted the “silence and inaction” of the international community, calling it an “affront” in the face of an “unprecedented worsening of the security situation” that could lead “straight to an escalation” in the broader Great Lakes region.

Tshisekedi declined to attend crisis talks with his counterpart Rwandan President Paul Kagame earlier on Wednesday.

Following the virtual summit, the regional East African Community bloc “called for peaceful settlement of the conflicts”, urging the DRC to “directly engage with all stakeholders, including the M23”.

In a late-night post on social media, Kagame told South African President Cyril Ramaphosa that his country was “in no position to take on the role of a peacemaker or mediator”.

Thirteen South African soldiers have been killed in the past week in the DRC, where they were part of a UN peacekeeping force as well as the Southern African Development Community Mission in DRC (SAMIDRC).

Kagame said the SAMIDRC “is not a peacekeeping force, and it has no place in this situation”.

The 16-nation Southern African Development Community will hold a special summit on the crisis on Friday in Zimbabwe.

Angola, which has mediated a ceasefire between the DRC army and M23 in the past, has also called for the Congolese and Rwandan leaders to meet urgently in its capital, Luanda.