Rwandan-backed M23 rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo are moving south towards Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu province, apparently bidding to expand their area of control in the country’s east after capturing the city of Goma.
M23 forces were advancing south from the town of Minova, along the western side of Lake Kivu, according to five diplomatic and security sources, one of whom was in direct contact with the rebels.
Any successful push south by M23 would result in them controlling territory that previous rebellions have not held since the end of DR Congo’s major war 20 years ago.
To reach Bukavu, they would have to seize Kavumu, where the city’s airport is located, and overcome Burundian troops who have been deployed to beef up DR Congo’s defences.
The advance on Bukavu comes as M23 strengthened its grip on Goma, capital of North Kivu and a hub for displaced people, aid workers, United Nations peacekeepers and DR Congolese forces.
Both North Kivu and South Kivu provinces have numerous mineral mines, and the struggle for control of DR Congo’s abundant resources is one of the drivers of conflict in the east of the giant country.
These include coltan, which is used in smartphones.
Despite a flurry of diplomatic activity, including the United States telling Rwanda it was “deeply troubled” by Goma’s fall to M23 fighters, there were growing signs the rebels were taking over the running of the city.
Isolated gunfire sounded through some outlying districts of the lakeside city of two million where Monday’s rebel storming left bodies lying in the streets, hospitals overwhelmed and UN peacekeepers sheltering in bases.
DR Congo government forces were nowhere to be seen in the city centre on Wednesday and a Reuters reporter saw M23 fighters patrolling the border with Rwanda and cutting chains and padlocks that had barred the way for pedestrians and vehicles.
“It feels like we are in a dual nation. We are in Congo and at the same time in Rwanda,” a resident of an upscale part of Goma said.
At a border crossing between Goma and its Rwandan twin city of Gisenyi, Reuters reporters saw dozens of muscular white men, some in fatigues, coming over to the Rwandan side and lining up to have their luggage examined by police sniffer dogs.
They submitted to being body-searched by Rwandan officers.
UN sources and Rwandan officials said they were mercenaries hired by the DR Congo government.
Several held Romanian passports.
One told Reuters he was Romanian and had been in Goma about two years.
After being searched, the mercenaries boarded coaches and were driven away.
As the Rwandan-backed rebels gained ground in the last two years, DR Congo turned to private military companies to try to shore up their defences but the mercenaries appeared to offer little resistance when M23 marched into Goma on Monday.
M23 is the latest ethnic Tutsi-led, Rwandan-backed insurgency to roil DR Congo since the aftermath of the genocide in Rwanda 30 years ago, when extremist Hutus killed Tutsis and moderate Hutus and then were toppled by the Tutsi-led forces led by now Rwanda President Paul Kagame .
Rwanda says some of the ousted perpetrators have sheltered in DR Congo since the genocide, posing a threat to DR Congolese Tutsis and Rwanda itself.
DR Congo rejects Rwanda’s complaints and says Rwanda has used its proxy militias to loot lucrative minerals.
