At the start of the year, the M23 militia embarked on a fast advance in eastern DRC, fighting the Congolese army and capturing two of the region’s largest cities: Goma, which is the capital of North Kivu province, and Bukavu, which is the capital of South Kivu province.
In a sign of disarray in the Congolese security forces amid the offensive, the Congolese army has called on deserters to rejoin their units, and crowds of Congolese police officers who switched to M23 sang and clapped in Bukavu on Saturday, preparing for retraining under the authority of the rebels.
About 7,000 people have died in fighting in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo since Rwanda-backed M23 rebels started renewed advances in January, the DRC’s prime minister has said.
M23, which is made up of Tutsis who left the Congolese army more than 10 years ago, is one of more than 100 armed groups fighting against Congolese forces in the mineral-rich eastern DRC.
On Sunday, the DRC’s communications minister, Patrick Muyaya, said that Rwanda and M23 had killed more than a dozen people in Goma.
