M23 rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) are holding civilians hostage on suspicion of collaborating with enemy militias, as fighting erupted despite recent peace efforts, local sources said on Monday.
The group — one of scores in the volatile region — has conquered swathes of territory from the army and allied militias in North Kivu Province in the past few months and advanced toward its capital, Goma.
It delivered the strategic town of Kibumba to a regional military force last week after heavy international pressure to cease fighting, saying the move was a “goodwill gesture done in the name of peace.”
However, the Congolese army dismissed the withdrawal as a “sham” aimed at reinforcing the group’s positions elsewhere, and security sources said that clashes had resumed in North Kivu on Sunday.
The rebels initially detained about 50 people accused of collaborating with two anti-M23 militias in and around the Tongo settlement, local civil society representative Cyprien Ngoragore said.
At least 18 civilians were still in rebel hands, suspected of working with an anti-M23 armed group, the Nyatura, and the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a militia with Rwandan Hutu origins, he said.
Two people said the hostages were taken to the locality of Rutshuru Centre, seen as an M23 stronghold.
A nephew of one of the hostages, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they were “displaced people who were returning to look for food,” and that the M23 told him they were still alive.
“We are requesting that our brothers are released, that the government gets involved,” he added.
Another man said the rebels arrested his 76-year-old father and others last week on suspicion of working for the Nyatura and the FDLR, tied them up and moved them to Rutshuru Centre.
The reports came as local residents said that fighting between the M23, the army and self-defense militias continued on Monday after breaking out at the weekend.
The army and local militias battled the M23 in the Bishusha and Tongo settlements, a military source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
A security source said that the army “was holding its positions.”
A Tutsi-led movement, the M23 had lain dormant for years until it resumed fighting late last year, accusing the Congolese government of failing to honor a deal to integrate its fighters into the army.
The DRC has accused its smaller central African neighbor Rwanda of backing the group, something that Kigali denies, but the US and France, among other Western countries, as well as UN experts, agree with the DRC’s assessment.
Talks between the DRC and Rwanda in Angola unlocked a truce agreement last month under which the M23 was meant to lay down arms and pull back from occupied territories.
However, the rebels remained in their positions after the scheduled date for their withdrawal.
RARE EVENT: While some cultures have a negative view of eclipses, others see them as a chance to show how people can work together, a scientist said Stargazers across a swathe of the world marveled at a dramatic red “Blood Moon” during a rare total lunar eclipse in the early hours of yesterday morning. The celestial spectacle was visible in the Americas and Pacific and Atlantic oceans, as well as in the westernmost parts of Europe and Africa. The phenomenon happens when the sun, Earth and moon line up, causing our planet to cast a giant shadow across its satellite. But as the Earth’s shadow crept across the moon, it did not entirely blot out its white glow — instead the moon glowed a reddish color. This is because the
DEBT BREAK: Friedrich Merz has vowed to do ‘whatever it takes’ to free up more money for defense and infrastructure at a time of growing geopolitical uncertainty Germany’s likely next leader Friedrich Merz was set yesterday to defend his unprecedented plans to massively ramp up defense and infrastructure spending in the Bundestag as lawmakers begin debating the proposals. Merz unveiled the plans last week, vowing his center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU)/Christian Social Union (CSU) bloc and the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) — in talks to form a coalition after last month’s elections — would quickly push them through before the end of the current legislature. Fraying Europe-US ties under US President Donald Trump have fueled calls for Germany, long dependent on the US security umbrella, to quickly
Romania’s electoral commission on Saturday excluded a second far-right hopeful, Diana Sosoaca, from May’s presidential election, amid rising tension in the run-up to the May rerun of the poll. Earlier this month, Romania’s Central Electoral Bureau barred Calin Georgescu, an independent who was polling at about 40 percent ahead of the rerun election. Georgescu, a fierce EU and NATO critic, shot to prominence in November last year when he unexpectedly topped a first round of presidential voting. However, Romania’s constitutional court annulled the election after claims of Russian interference and a “massive” social media promotion in his favor. On Saturday, an electoral commission statement
In front of a secluded temple in southwestern China, Duan Ruru skillfully executes a series of chops and strikes, practicing kung fu techniques she has spent a decade mastering. Chinese martial arts have long been considered a male-dominated sphere, but a cohort of Generation Z women like Duan is challenging that assumption and generating publicity for their particular school of kung fu. “Since I was little, I’ve had a love for martial arts... I thought that girls learning martial arts was super swaggy,” Duan, 23, said. The ancient Emei school where she trains in the mountains of China’s Sichuan Province
RSS