Conflict worsens with renewed attacks

At least 50 people were killed in weekend attacks in Congo’s conflict-battered east, authorities said Saturday. According to the Club of Mozambique, the government traded blame with Rwanda-backed rebels over who was responsible for the violence that quickly escalated the conflict in the region. The renewed violence that residents reported in and around the region’s largest city of Goma – which the M23 rebels control – was the biggest threat yet to ongoing peace efforts by both the Gulf Arab state of Qatar and African nations in the conflict that has raised fears of regional warfare. The decades-long conflict between Congo and the M23 rebels escalated in January, when the rebels made an unprecedented advance and seized the strategic eastern Congolese city of Goma, followed by the town of Bukavu in February. The latest fighting has killed some 3 000 people and worsened what was already one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises, with around 7m people displaced. In a statement, Congo’s Ministry of Interior said 52 people were killed between Friday and Saturday, including a person shot dead at Goma’s Kyeshero Hospital. The Ministry blamed the attack on M23, but M23 spokesperson Lawrence Kanyuka blamed Congolese forces and their allies for the attacks. Kanyuka said in a statement that Congo’s joint operations with local militias and southern African troops ‘directly threaten the stability and security of civilians’ in the region. The group said it has been compelled to ‘reconsider its position to prioritise the security’ of the people in the area, suggesting the crisis could worsen.

Full report on the Club of Mozambique site