A rebel group has said it has advanced into Bukavu, the second largest city in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), with residents reporting looting and fighters in the streets. <\/p>\n
Rebel coalition, Alliance Fleuve Congo (AFC), which includes the M23 armed group, said in a statement Saturday it took control of the Kavumu airport in South Kivu and forced government forces to retreat \u201cin disarray, abandoning the city of Bukavu,\u201d the provincial capital. <\/p>\n
There has been no confirmation from the DRC government and it is unclear from eyewitnesses reports how far the rebels have advanced in Bukavu. <\/p>\n
The rapid advance into the city comes less than three weeks after the rebels claimed the takeover of Goma, the largest city and capital of the neighboring North Kivu province on January 27. <\/p>\n
Fighting in Goma between the rebels and DRC\u2019s military left more than 3,000 people dead, according to the government. <\/p>\n
The DRC and many Western countries accuse its neighbor Rwanda of backing M23, which is comprised mainly of ethnic Tutsis who left the Congolese army more than a decade ago. <\/p>\n
Since 2022, M23 \u2013 which claims to defend the interest of minority Rwandophone communities, including the Tutsis \u2013 has waged a renewed rebellion against the DRC government, occupying a large expanse in North Kivu, which borders Rwanda and Uganda. <\/p>\n
Now a part of the AFC rebel alliance, the group has also taken over resource-rich communities in the east such as Nyabibwe and Rubaya, which harbors one of the world\u2019s largest deposits of coltan, a valuable mineral used in the production of smartphones. <\/p>\n
Calls for a ceasefire from foreign and regional leaders have failed to deter the rebels\u2019 quest for territory. <\/p>\n
Residents told Reuters they had seen M23 fighters on the streets but were yet to witness any fighting. Other sources told the news agency that the rebels were yet to enter the center of Bukavu. <\/p>\n
\u201cTheir uniforms were different. We had been prepared since the daytime for their arrival \u2026 the FARDC (army soldiers) had left. There were no clashes,\u201d one resident told Reuters, adding that she spotted the rebels from her window. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey are looting depots, warehouses and commercial houses,\u201d he said, accusing fleeing soldiers and civilians of carrying out the looting. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe have no security,\u201d Mapendano added. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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A rebel group has said it has advanced into Bukavu, the second largest city in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), with residents reporting looting and fighters in the streets. Rebel coalition, Alliance Fleuve…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3952,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[118],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3951","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/invest360pro.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/invest360pro.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/invest360pro.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/invest360pro.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/invest360pro.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3951"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/invest360pro.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3951\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/invest360pro.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/invest360pro.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/invest360pro.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/invest360pro.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}