Red Cross escorts hundreds of stranded Congolese soldiers from rebel-controlled city to capital
The soldiers and police officers have been taking refuge at the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Congo's base since January, when the decades-long conflict in eastern Congo escalated as the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels advanced and seized the strategic Goma.
The operation is the result of an agreement reached between the Congolese government, the rebels, the U.N. mission and the ICRC, which was called upon as a neutral intermediary, the Red Cross said in a statement. Upon arrival in Kinshasa, the soldiers, police officers and their families will be taken in by Congolese authorities, it added.
The transfer from Goma to Kinshasa, about 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) to the west, is expected to last several days, Myriam Favier, the ICRC chief in Goma, said during a press briefing Wednesday.
The announcement was greeted with profound relief.
'We were disarmed because we had no choice, but we hope to reach Kinshasa,' a Congolese soldier told The Associated Press over the phone, ahead of his transfer. 'As soldiers, we are always ready to defend our homeland. We lost a battle, not the war,' he said.
He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was still in the rebel-controlled area and not allowed to speak to reporters.
Sylvain Ekenge, spokesperson for Congo's armed forces, welcomed the initiative in a statement on Wednesday.
'The Congolese Armed Forces hopes that this operation will be carried out in strict compliance with the commitments made,' he said, thanking the ICRC for its role.
For security reasons, no media outlets were allowed to film or photograph the operation.
The news of the ICRC's escort comes amid persistent tensions in eastern Congo, where fighting between Congo's army and M23 continues, despite both sides having agreed to work toward a truce earlier this month.
On Saturday, residents of Kaziba in the South Kivu province reported clashes between Congolese armed forces, supported by an allied militia, and M23.
M23 is one of about 100 armed groups vying for a foothold in mineral-rich eastern Congo near the border with Rwanda, in a conflict that has created one of the world's most significant humanitarian crises. More than 7 million people have been displaced.
The rebels are supported by about 4,000 troops from neighboring Rwanda, according to U.N. experts, and at times have vowed to march as far as Kinshasa.
In Feburary, the U.N. Human Rights Council launched a commission to investigate atrocities, including allegations of rape and killing akin to 'summary executions' by both sides.
Conflict in eastern Congo is estimated to have killed 6 million people since the mid-1990s, in the wake of the Rwanda genocide. Some of the ethnic Hutu extremists responsible for the 1994 killing of an estimated 1 million of Rwanda's minority ethnic Tutsis and Hutu moderates later fled across the border into eastern Congo, fueling the proxy fighting between rival militias aligned to the two governments.
——
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
26 minutes ago
- BBC News
Newshour DRC: Rights group alleges mass killings by armed group M23
A report by Human Right Watch alleges the M23 rebel group killed at least 140 people in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo last month in one of the worst atrocities committed since its insurgency in 2021. The overall number of victims could exceed 300. We hear from an eye witness and the DRC foreign minister, who says the alleged massacres violated a ceasefire agreement. Also in the programme: the Israeli Defence Force has called around 60,000 reservists in what is being seen as evidence of an imminent operation to take over Gaza City; and the scientific research giving hope to people who have lost their sense of smell. (Photo: a member of the M23 rebel group walks in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, March 2025. Credit: Reuters / Z. Bensemra)
The Independent
5 hours ago
- The Independent
Congo's draft peace deal with M23 seeks to return government control to rebel-held areas
A proposed peace deal between the government of Congo and the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels seeks to reinstate government control over rebel-held areas, according to a copy of the draft seen by The Associated Press. The deal, which was proposed by Qatar, outlines a three-phase process to achieve peace. The proposal will be discussed under mediation by both parties in Doha in coming days. In a statement in Kinshasa on Tuesday, Belgium's foreign minister, Maxime Prévot, told reporters that Congo's President Felix Tshisekedi is not satisfied with the draft agreement. 'A new phase of discussions will open in the coming hours and days in Doha. President Tshisekedi confirmed to me that the proposed text is not satisfactory. That is an important element to keep in mind,' said Prévot. M23 president Bertrand Bisimwa said the rebel group had 'no comment at this stage on this project.' He added: "For now, we are focusing on implementing the Doha Declaration in terms of the ceasefire and the release of prisoners.' Congo has been wracked by conflict with more than 100 armed groups, with the loss of millions of lives since the 1990s. The current fighting is the most intense in years and culminated earlier this year when M23 rebels captured major cities in the east of the country for the first time in more than a decade. The group took control of Goma and Bukavu, along with a dozen smaller towns, earlier this year and has consolidated its hold by appointing loyalists to senior administrative positions. The draft peace deal — whose authenticity was confirmed to AP by M23 — would be the culmination of a U.S. sponsored attempt at peace that began with a signing ceremony between Congo and Rwanda in Washington last month. In statements on Tuesday, the Congolese government and M23 accused each other of violating the ceasefire. The accusations come after a deadline for a peace deal set for Monday expired. The M23 rebel group is the most prominent armed group in the conflict, and its major advance early this year left bodies on the streets. With 7 million people displaced in Congo, the United Nations has called it 'one of the most protracted, complex, serious humanitarian crises on Earth.'
The Independent
7 hours ago
- The Independent
Rwanda-backed rebels killed over 140 civilians in eastern Congo, rights group says
Rwanda-backed rebels killed at least 140 people in farming communities in eastern Congo in July, a human rights group said in a report Wednesday, describing the killings as 'summary executions.' Human Rights Watch said 141 people, predominantly Hutus, were feared dead or missing after the attacks near Virunga National Park in North Kivu province, citing local experts and witness accounts. It said the killings appeared to be part of a military campaign by the M23 group, the most prominent of more than 100 armed groups fighting for control in eastern Congo, against the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a mostly Hutu armed group. Nearly 2 million Hutus from Rwanda fled to Congo after the 1994 Rwandan genocide that killed 800,000 Tutsi, moderate Hutus and others. Rwandan authorities accused the Hutus who fled of participating in the genocide, alleging that the Congolese army protected them. 'The M23 armed group, which has Rwandan government backing, attacked over a dozen villages and farming areas in July and committed dozens of summary executions of primarily Hutu civilians,' said Clementine de Montjoye, senior researcher at Human Rights Watch. Witnesses said M23 soldiers, accompanied by Rwandan soldiers who were identified by their accents, told them to 'immediately bury the bodies in the fields or leave them unburied, preventing families from organizing funerals,' the report said. One woman described being marched in a group to a riverbank near the town of Kafuru. The group of around 70 people was lined up before the soldiers began shooting at them. 47 people, including children, who were killed were identified, the report added. Willy Ngoma, military spokesperson for M23, called the report 'military propaganda.' The report said the Rwandan military and the Rwanda Defense Force (RDF) were involved in the M23 operations, citing U.N. and military sources and witness accounts. There was no immediate comment from the Rwandan government. The reported killings could escalate tensions in Congo's mineral-rich east where different partners have been racing to achieve a permanent ceasefire since fighting between the M23 and Congolese forces escalated in January. The U.N. has called the conflict 'one of the most protracted, complex, serious humanitarian crises on Earth.' M23 was previously accused of extrajudicial killings during their seizure of major cities in the eastern part of the country in May.
