Rebels appoint leaders in captured Congo areas
Rebels gathered hundreds of people in a stadium in Goma, presenting new administrators they have appointed for areas they have seized, as Congo President Felix Tshisekedi prepares to participate in a joint summit of African leaders in Tanzania to discuss the conflict in the east.
The high-stakes summit could bring together Tshisekedi and President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, who Congo, the United Nations and other western partners have accused of sponsoring the rebels with arms and personnel on the ground. Rwanda has denied the accusations.
Rwanda has denied the accusations.
The rebels who seized Goma, the largest city in eastern Congo last week, took another mining town in the South Kivu province in a push towards the provincial capital Bukavu, violating a unilateral agreement they had declared.
Reports of rebel advance towards Buvaku sparked panic in several towns and villages including in Bukavu, where the Catholic university suspended academic activities scheduled, a statement said.
As thousands gathered at the stadium in Goma, which the rebels captured last week with the support of troops from neighboring Rwanda, M23 political leader Corneille Nangaa told the crowd that the city had been "liberated and sanitized" and that new administrative heads have been appointed.
"I ask you to sleep well because we bring you security; this is our priority," Nangaa said. "Starting next week, the children return to school. Let all state agents return to their offices. The displaced people are returning to their homes."
The rebels are backed by some 4,000 troops from neighboring Rwanda, according to U.N. experts. They are the most potent of the more than 100 armed groups active in Congo's east, which holds vast deposits critical to much of the world's technology.
Unlike in 2012, when the rebels first captured Goma but held it for only a short time, analysts say the M23 is now eyeing political power and eager to show it can govern.
