Rwandan-backed rebels threaten to expand offensive in east Congo to 2 more provinces, UN envoy says

UNITED NATIONS — Rwandan-backed rebels now control large parts of eastern Congo and threaten to expand their offensive west into two neighboring provinces, the top U.N. official in the conflict-torn country said Thursday.

In a briefing to the U.N. Security Council on what she called “the alarming situation” in Congo, Bintou Keita pointed to the M23 rebels’ installation of an administration in South Kivu, and “a mining delegate” in North Kivu – another link between decades-old conflicts in eastern Congo and the illegal exploitation of its mineral riches.

The U.N. special representative for Congo also cited the dire situation of tens of thousands of Congolese fleeing the M23 offensive, and massive human rights violations against civilians from more than 100 summary executions to rapes and forced recruitment of children.

Despite regional and international efforts, including a recent agreement between the presidents of Congo and Rwanda in Qatar, Keita said the immediate and unconditional ceasefire they called for has not taken place. She called for swift appointment of an African Union mediator to spearhead ceasefire efforts.

Keita told the council that M23 controls large parts of North Kivu and South Kivu “and threatens to expand into Tshopo and Maniema provinces,” which are larger and across the Kivus' western borders. M23 and its allies have vowed to march as far as Congo’s capital, Kinshasa, about 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) to the east, and moving into Tshopo and Maniema would be a first major step.

Keita, who heads the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo known as MONUSCO, told reporters that an analysis by professionals on the ground determined that the two provinces could be next.

M23 is one of about 100 armed groups that have been vying for a foothold in mineral-rich eastern Congo near the border with Rwanda. The conflict has created one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises and has displaced more than 7 million people.

At the root of the current crisis is the 1994 Rwanda genocide which saw bands of ethnic Hutu extremists kill minority ethnic Tutsis they blamed for the downing of a plane that killed the country’s Hutu president.

Rwanda’s current president, Paul Kagame, a Tutsi and former opposition military commander, is widely credited with stopping the genocide which killed more than 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus who tried to protect them. Thousands of Hutus fled Rwanda to neighboring eastern Congo.

The M23 rebels are largely Congolese ethnic Tutsis, whose fighters seized Goma, eastern Congo’s largest city on the border with Rwanda, in November 2012 but pulled back under international pressure.

Last July, U.N. experts reported that between 3,000 and 4,000 Rwanda government forces were operating alongside M23 in eastern Congo. And in January, M23 launched a major offensive against Congolese government forces that led to its takeover of most of the Kivus.

At Thursday’s council meeting, Congo’s Ambassador Zénon Mukongo Ngay blamed Rwanda for not adhering to a ceasefire and said his government “remains fully committed and reiterates its trust in any and all peace processes supported by the African Union to bring about a political solution to the conflict.”

He said Rwanda and M23 continue to respond to calls for the withdrawal of all “uninvited” foreign forces from Congo “with violence, with terror." And he thanked the countries that have imposed sanctions against Rwanda including the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Canada and the European Union.

Rwanda’s Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe wouldn’t confirm the presence of Rwandan troops in Congo. But he said the country’s “defensive measures” will remain in place “until there is a credible framework for long-term security guarantees” along the border with Congo.