Congo rebels boost patrols in key city

Withdrawal deadline passes in Goma

— Rebels widely believed to be backed by Rwanda and Uganda held their positions in the key eastern Congolese city that they seized last week, letting a midnight deadline for their withdrawal expire today.

Trucks loaded with fighters belonging to the eight month-old M23 rebel group patrolled the empty streets of the regional capital of Goma, as the ultimatum issued by the regional bloc representing nations in the Great Lakes region of Central Africa came to an end.

The M23 rebels said Monday that they plan to move their headquarters to Goma, a city of 1 million, later this week.

Armed rebels guarded the Central Bank of Congo while United Nations peacekeepers stood watch over a gas station.

Many shops closed early Monday and few students attended reopened schools.

The Congolese military, which lost Goma last Sunday, was regrouping in the town of Minova, 36 miles to the south.

Congolese Prime Minister Augustin Matata Ponyo confirmed Monday that President Joseph Kabila had met in recent days with the rebels during a mediation session in neighboring Uganda.

He said the government is leaning toward “the avenue of dialogue and peace.”

“Any action to take back the city of Goma by force will without doubt result in enormous human loss,” Matata Ponyo said Monday.

“President Kabila is giving priority to the road that will lead to the least loss,” he said.

The deadline was issued by the International Conference for the Great Lakes Region on Saturday in Kampala, Uganda’s capital, and gave the M23 rebels two days to retreat to 12 miles outside of Goma.

It expired at midnight Monday.

The regional group is attempting to negotiate an end to the fighting, but it did not threaten any consequences if the rebels didn’t depart. Rwanda and Uganda belong to the group, but both countries back the rebels, according to a U.N. report released Wednesday.

The head of the M23 rebels confirmed Monday that he was joining in the negotiations in Uganda.

“We are still waiting to hear about the outcome of the meetings in Kampala. We should receive a document about it tomorrow. The president [of the M23] came back this evening. But given that we do not know what is asked of us we did not move out of our positions,” Bertrand Bisimwa, spokesman for M23’s political branch, said today.

Residents fear that if the Congo army attempts to regain Goma, there will be bitter fighting.

“I am worried the fighting will come back to Goma soon if the army attacks again. Last week, we were so scared. I don’t want to go through that again,” said Amani Zaliwa, a Goma resident.

The U.N., which has hundreds of peacekeeping troops stationed in Goma, did little to halt the rebels’ advance into Goma a week ago, saying that the U.N. mandate did not allow them to engage the fighters.

Tens of thousands of Congolese have fled to refugee camps for safety. Aid organizations struggled to provide them with food and supplies.

When a rainstorm hit the Munguna-3 camp, about seven miles south of Goma, children held out their hands to catch the water and drink it. They were quickly imitated by adults.

The M23, created eight months ago, will move its administration offices Thursday into what had been the provincial governor’s offices, said Bertrand Bisimwa, the M23 political spokesman.

M23 is made up of hundreds of soldiers who deserted the Congolese army in April.

The rebels accuse Congo’s government of failing to honor the terms of a 2009 peace deal that incorporated them into the national army.

In the early months of the rebellion, the M23 said the Congolese government had not paid them well and had discriminated against people from the Tutsi ethnicity, who make up the bulk of their ranks.

A U.N. report released last week, however, said that the rebels were backed by Rwanda and most likely fighting for a greater share of Congo’s mineral riches.

Uganda and Rwanda were named in a report by the U.N. Group of Experts as key backers of the M23 rebels, and Matata Ponyo noted that still Uganda was leading the mediation and Rwanda was given a seat at the table.

The regional conflict also is complicated by the fact that Rwanda becomes a permanent member of the Security Council in January. Matata Ponyo said this was a failure on the part of the U.N.

Information for this article was contributed by Rodney Muhumuza and Jerome Delay of The Associated Press.

Front Section, Pages 4 on 11/27/2012

Upcoming Events