M23 rebels have captured a strategic mining hub in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, defying calls from the presidents of Rwanda and the DRC for an immediate ceasefire.
A Congolese army spokesperson said M23 was in control of the town of Walikale. An officer separately told Agence France-Presse its forces were about 20 miles (30km) away in the town of Mubi.
Walikale, in North Kivu province, is the farthest west that M23 has reached during its lightning advance that started in January.
The town has large deposits of tin and many significant goldmines. Tin is widely used as a protective coating for other metals and in industries including food packaging and electronics.
In taking control of Walikale, the rebels also seized a road linking four provinces in the east of the country, cutting off the army’s positions. It also puts them within 250 miles of Kisangani, the country’s fourth-largest city.
Gunfire rang out from near Nyabangi neighbourhood on Wednesday, according to Janvier Kabutwa, who lives in Walikale. An army source said the rebels were battling soldiers and pro-government militias after overrunning an army position outside the town in a surprise attack.
“The information is confirmed. The rebels are visible at the monument and at the Bakusu group office,” said Prince Kihangi, a former provincial official for Walikale, referring to locations in the town centre.
Heavy artillery fire was heard throughout Wednesday but stopped in the evening, giving way to sporadic gunfire, said Fiston Misona, a civil society activist in Walikale. “Our Congolese army is no longer fighting,” he said. “It’s as if we were being sacrificed.”
M23 captured Goma, the largest city in North Kivu, in late January. It then started moving south towards Bukavu, the second-largest city in the region.
More than 7,000 people have been killed and hundreds of thousands uprooted from their homes since January in the latest escalation in the conflict, which has lasted for decades and has its roots in the 1994 Rwandan genocide. It is the worst escalation in more than a decade.
M23, which is backed by Rwanda, is one of dozens of armed groups fighting Congolese forces to make territorial gains in the DRC’s mineral-rich eastern provinces. It says its objective is to safeguard the interests of the Congolese Tutsi and other minorities, including protecting them from Hutu rebel groups that escaped to the DRC after taking part in the genocide. The DRC, the US and other countries say Rwanda is backing M23 in order to exploit the region’s mineral resources.
The fall of Walikale came a day after DRC’s president, Félix Tshisekedi, and his Rwandan counterpart, Paul Kagame, met in Qatar for their first direct talks since January and called for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire.
The DRC and M23 had been expected to have their first direct talks on Tuesday in Angola after Tshisekedi’s government went back on its longstanding refusal to speak to the rebels, but M23 pulled out of the talks on Monday, citing EU sanctions against some of its leaders and Rwandan officials.
AFP, Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report
