EAC force to meet M23 amid alleged DR Congo ceasefire violation

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The East African regional force will this week meet the M23 rebels fighting government forces in eastern DR Congo, following their withdrawal from one of the occupied positions.

Lawrence Kanyuka, the M23 political spokesperson, said that the meeting, due on Saturday, December 31, will be “in line with its continued commitment to implementation of the resolutions of Luanda’s Mini Summit.”

The M23 withdrew from Kibumba last week, a move it said was made “in the name of peace.”

The EAC regional force now controls Kibumba.

However, Kanyuka said on Wednesday that the government coalition, which includes rebel armed groups like terrorist FDLR, had continued to shell on M23-controlled areas, in violation of an existing ceasefire.

He alleged the coalition “used heavy artillery and fighter jets SUKHOI to deliberately launch attacks aiming at displaced populations.”

Ce mercredi 28 Déc la coalition Gouvernementale a utilisé l'artillerie lourde et les avions de combat SUKHOI pour lancer délibérément des attaques visant les populations déplacées qui ont trouvé refuge dans les zones sous notre contrôle, fuyant les exactions commises contre elles pic.twitter.com/SiUUfisb4a

— Lawrence KANYUKA (@LawrenceKanyuka) December 28, 2022

Kanyuka said the M23 would “not stand aside and witness the slaughtering of innocent people” in areas it controls.

The M23 withdrawal from Kibumba was in respect to the resolutions of the summit of regional leaders in Luanda last month.

It is expected that the rebels – who control parts of North Kivu, including Bunagana, a strategic town at the Ugandan border – will continue to pull out of their current positions, back to prior positions.

The Luanda meeting had also set November 30 as the deadline for the FDLR, a group founded by genocidaires responsible for the 1994 Genocide to repatriate unconditionally. But one month later, there are no signs of FDLR repatriating.