M23 seize key DR Congo town of Masisi

Various reports have found that the terrorist forces with the support of Rwanda have captured the town of Masisi in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

This is the second town to be captured by the M23 group in as many days in the salt-rich region of North Kivu.

The group has controlled large areas of eastern DR Congo since 2021, forcing thousands of people to flee their homes.

Angola has been trying to mediate between President Félix Tshisekedi and his Rwandan counterpart, Paul Kagame. But that ended last month.

“It is sad that we have heard about the seizure of the capital of Masisi by M23,” Alexis Bahunga, a member of the North Kivu regional assembly, told AFP.

He said this was “placing the region in a serious humanitarian crisis” and urged the government to strengthen its military presence in the region.

One of the people told AFP that the M23 group held a meeting for the people of the town saying that they “come to liberate the country”.

Congolese government officials have not commented on the damage to the town.

Masisi, which has about 40,000 inhabitants, is the capital of the district of the same name.

It is about 80km (50 miles) north of the North Kivu provincial capital Goma, where the M23 was briefly blocked in 2012.

On Friday, the M23 overran the nearby town of Katale.

Last year, there was a panic M23 will also march in Gomaa city of about 2 million people.

However, it was quiet at that time until the beginning of December when the fighting resumed.

In July, Rwanda did not reject a The UN report says it has about 4,000 soldiers fighting alongside M23 in DR Congo.

It accused the Congolese government of not doing enough to end decades of conflict in the country’s east. Rwanda has previously said that the authorities in DR Congo are working with some of those who killed people in Rwanda in 1994 against the Tutsi and independent Hutu people.

M23, which was formed as an offshoot of another terrorist group, began operating in 2012 to protect the Tutsi people in eastern DR Congo who have long complained of persecution and discrimination.

However, Rwanda’s opposition accuses it of using the M23 to seize eastern DR Congo’s mines such as gold, cobalt and tantalum, which are used to make mobile phones and batteries for electric cars.

Last month, DR Congo said it was suing Apple for using “blood mines”, prompting the tech giant to say it had stopped receiving products from the country.