The anti -government militia supported by Rwanda has announced the capture of sesame City in the East Democratic Republic of Congo. This is a great victory for the group and is one of the most important escalations in conflicts between the two countries for many years.
The M23, known as the M23, temporarily occupied sesame once in 2012, then defeated, and dormed for almost 10 years. According to the United Nations experts, we have now returned to ROW with the aim of occupying the area for a long time and using its precious rare minerals.
This time, the M23 seems to be in a strong position to protect Sesame, a city consisting of people who must live under one rule of the armed group they escaped, mainly hugged the house. It looks like.
The M23 spokesman announced “Liberation of GOMA City” in X posts, stating that Congolese soldiers must hand over their skills to the United Nations before 3:00 am and gather in STADIUM. Foreign Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The conflict in the eastern part of Congo, about Michigan, was once labeled with World War I in Africa. It has been around since the 1990s and has been involved in dozens of armed groups that M23 are currently dominant.
According to the United Nations and the United States, anti -government forces are planning to occupy and exploit the region for a long time. Rwanda denies these accusations.
The rebels in GOMA, which began with an attack in areas that started this month, quickly escalated for the past three weeks, urging people to escalate from the city.
On Sunday morning, thousands of people arrived in sesame from the northern area of the city. I was able to grab some of the cloths that can only grasp the fragments of the cloth tied around the forehead, which are only a few days. Many have already evacuated and fled from the bomb that had fallen near the camp. Others left the village involved in a cross -fire between the M23 and the Congo army.
The UN camp on the outskirts of sesame, which hosted more than 300,000 people, was completely empty in a few hours.
On Friday, according to the Congo's military spokesman, the sesame governor of the capital, Kita -Kib, was fatally injured on the battlefield. The situation of his death remained ambiguous, but the spokesman said that the governor, General Peter Chilimwami, had died because he had evacuated to Kinshasa, the capital of the Congo.
On Saturday, Sesame's United Nations Peace Peace Mission was planned to evacuate a lot of staff from the city and take a bus to the airport on a plan to jump into Entee in the nearby Uganda.
In 2012, Rwanda was undergoing a fierce international pressure to suspend the M23 support, resulting in the following year. However, experts said that it was unknown whether such pressure could be summoned again. Since then, Rwanda has built up a relationship with the western countries, and has been less dependent on assistance.
At an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Sunday, the United States and other members blamed Rwanda's actions, but stopped sanctions. Bintu Keita, the head of the UN's United Nations Peace Maintenance Mission, said at a meeting that three peacekeepers were killed in an attempt to protect sesame and nearby town salmon from M23. She also stated that the anti -government forces had closed sesame space.
“In other words, we are trapped,” she said.
As the anti -government forces moved forward with sesame, the tragic humanitarian situation had already deteriorated. According to the UN Refugee Agency, more than 400,000 people have escaped the house from the beginning of this year, attacking new areas in Kita Kib and Southern Kib, where the M23 rebels are sesame. They joined 4.6 million who had already evacuated in the east of Congo.
Nevertheless, people were often poured into sesame on long pillars.
Some rescued belongings have been pushed by hand. Some people carried bicycles and mattresses on bicycles and backs. Many of them were injured to threaten life.
Miriam Fabiel, the head of the Red Cross International Committee in Sesame, said on Friday, more than 100 people arrived at the hospital where she worked within 24 hours before. In one month.
“They come from anywhere,” she said. “They come from all aspects.”
Fabier explained medical staff who treated patients with mortar or Rap shots, and said that the number of minors who were seriously injured has increased significantly. She called on people who use heavy artillery to reduce attacks, many people arrived with head wounds and chest trauma, the hospital rose the bed, and the patient was a mattress in the parking lot. He said he had to put it.
In the whole sesame, the school was evacuation centers for refugees. The family did not have to adventure because they had stored what they could.
Many of the escaped people knew that it was in the rebels, but had no other options.
When the city fell in the M23, they hid in the place they could do, and most of them were hungry, cold, or severely injured. Some fell asleep on the street, while others fell asleep at the hospital.
Solange Safi ndakwinja was trying to take care of three daughters who were severely injured by a bomb exploded at the military checkpoint.
“My hope is that God will help us,” said Nedakwinja. “I don't know what will happen for the rest.”
Elian Peltier has contributed to the report from Daklrobi in Senegal and Nairobi in Kenya.
