The Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group has pushed south from Goma, the border city in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo that it captured this week, and declared its intention to remain in the city, as fears grow of a major regional war. International calls for restraint appear to have had little impact on the ground in DRC. Local sources told Agence France-Presse that fighters from M23 had seized two districts in South Kivu province as they advanced towards the provincial capital, Bukavu, the second largest city in eastern DRC.
On Monday, rebel fighters and Rwandan soldiers swept into Goma , the capital of North Kivu province and a regional hub for displaced people, in the biggest escalation since of a decades-old conflict.
If the rebels advance beyond Kavumu, Bukavu could be threatened. Some of the Congolese troops driven out by M23 in Goma fled to Bukavu.
The M23 rebels in eastern DRC are backed by 4, troops from neighbouring Rwanda, according to UN experts, far more than in when the group briefly captured Goma. A sustained and successful push into South Kivu would put the territory under rebel control for the first time since the end of two major wars that ran from to , in which millions of civilians died, mostly from malnutrition and disease.
Troops from neighbouring Burundi, which has had hostile relations with Rwanda, support Congolese troops in South Kivu, meaning the risk of a wider conflict would increase. Rwanda is facing mounting international pressure over its role in the fighting.
