Several people have been killed and dozens more injured after blasts at a mass rally held by the M23 group in Bukavu, the city in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo captured by the rebels earlier this month.
The M23 advance is the gravest escalation in more than a decade of the long-running conflict in eastern DRC, rooted in the spillover of Rwanda’s 1994 genocide and the struggle for control of Congo’s vast minerals resources.
M23 has said it is trying to protect Tutsis and Congolese people of Rwandan origin from discrimination, but analysts says these claims are pretexts for Rwanda’s involvement.
In January, M23 started making renewed advances in eastern DRC, capturing swathes of territory as it fought against the Congolese army and allied forces.
A crowd of thousands were present for the rally, which took place at Independence Square in the centre of the city, the capital of South Kivu province and the second-largest in eastern DRC.
