The United Nations’ peacekeeping chief said Friday that M23 rebels are advancing south toward the provincial capital of Bukavu after seizing control of Goma in the mineral-rich eastern Congo earlier this week.
“The information I have is that M23/RDF are about 60 kilometers north of Bukavu. They seem to be moving quite fast,” Jean Pierre Lacroix told reporters of the rebels who are backed by the Rwandan Defense Forces. “There is an airport in the vicinity of where they are, I think a few kilometers south, which is Kavumu.”
He said if they succeed in taking over the airport as they did in Goma, it would be another “significant step.”
Congolese military bases in Bukavu were being emptied on Thursday to reinforce positions along the route to the provincial capital, residents told The Associated Press. Reuters reports that officials in Bukavu have also been recruiting civilians to help protect the city.
Rwanda did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on the latest military movements.
Rebels take over schools, hospitals
Earlier this month, M23 rebels broke a ceasefire agreement, launching a large-scale offensive in along the eastern edge of the Democratic Republic of the Congo with the support of the Rwandan army. Rwanda has denied accusations that it supports the rebels, whom the Congolese government has designated as a terrorist group.
Until June, the United Nations had peacekeepers deployed in Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu province. The U.N. made an agreement with the government to gradually begin drawing down its mission, known as MONUSCO, and closed its Bukavu office.
In areas under M23 control in South Kivu, including the key trading town of Minova, the rebels have occupied schools and hospitals, expelled displaced persons from camps, and forced the local population to fight for them and perform forced labor, the U.N. office of human rights said Friday.
The U.N. peacekeeping chief, echoing the secretary-general and the Security Council, urged diplomatic engagement to halt the fighting and lead to a political solution.
Goma still ‘tense,’ some services restored
Meanwhile, in the North Kivu provincial capital of Goma, which fell to the rebels earlier this week, the situation is “tense and volatile,” Lacroix said, but calm is gradually being restored, along with some basic services. U.N. peacekeepers have also been able to resupply some of their positions, he said. The airport, however, remains out of commission after sustaining heavy damage to its runways.
The World Health Organization and the Congolese government assessed that 700 people had been killed between Sunday and Thursday, U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters. Another 2,800 wounded are receiving treatment in health facilities.
“These numbers are expected to rise as more information becomes available,” Dujarric said.
The International Organization for Migration said 300,000 people had been sheltering in displacement sites, including on the outskirts of Goma. Those sites are now mostly empty as people fled the fighting. The agency says the displaced urgently need food, shelter, clean water, medical care and protection.
Before the latest round of violence, eastern Congo was mired in one of the largest and most protracted humanitarian crises in the world, with nearly 6.5 million people displaced due to efforts by armed groups to seize control of the country’s valuable mineral deposits.