The U.N. Safety Council stated Monday that it was involved by “escalating violence” within the jap Democratic Republic of the Congo, condemning in an announcement the offensive launched this month by M23 rebels close to Goma.
Clashes have intensified just lately between the M23 — among the many strongest of dozens of armed teams roaming the nation’s troubled east — and the Congolese military.
The DRC, the U.N. and Western nations say Rwanda is supporting the rebels in a bid to regulate huge mineral assets, an allegation Kigali denies.
Council members, who met Monday to debate the problem, “reiterated their condemnation of all armed teams working within the nation. They expressed concern in regards to the escalation of violence and a sustained stress within the area,” in response to an announcement learn by Guyana Ambassador Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett.
Council members additionally particularly “condemned the M23 offensive,” launched February 7, Rodrigues-Birkett stated. “They reiterated their full help to the sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of the DRC.”
The M23 has seized huge swaths of North Kivu province since rising from dormancy in late 2021, in an space wracked by violence for many years following regional wars within the Nineties.
The newest flare-up has pushed hundreds of civilians to flee the city of Sake, on the route towards Goma, capital of North Kivu province.
In accordance with a U.N. doc seen by AFP earlier Monday, the Rwandan military is utilizing refined weapons equivalent to surface-to-air missiles to help M23.
A “suspected Rwandan Protection Power cell surface-to-air missile” was fired at a U.N. statement drone final Wednesday with out hitting it, the confidential report stated.
U.N. forces have been in Congo for almost 25 years, however stand accused of failing to guard civilians from armed teams.
The U.N. Safety Council voted in December to accede to Kinshasa’s demand for a pullout regardless of the risky scenario.