M23 rebels fighting government forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo have captured the strategic town of Walikale as they continue with their advancements.
The town fell after fighting on Wednesday between the rebels and the army and allied militias, an army spokesperson and local residents have confirmed.
Walikale is the farthest west the rebels have reached as they push to overrun eastern Congo’s two largest cities since January.
The town is in an area rich in minerals including tin and lies along a road that links four eastern Congo provinces.
There have been calls for an immediate ceasefire by the DR Congo President, Felix Tshisekedi and Rwandan President, Paul Kagame during a sit-down meeting in Qatar.
– Advertisement –
But the leader of the M23 rebels said on Thursday that a call by Kinshasa and Kigali for an immediate ceasefire “doesn’t concern us”.
“We are Congolese who are fighting for a cause,” Corneille Nangaa, head of the Congo River Alliance (AFC), told Reuters in Goma.
“What happened in Doha, as long as we don’t know the details, and as long as it doesn’t solve our problems, we’ll say it doesn’t concern us.”
An M23 officer told residents in the captured town that the rebels would be marching to Kinshasa.
“We are going to leave a small group of our soldiers to provide you security,” he said in a video Reuters said it has seen “As for us, we are going to continue … to join our soldiers who are also en route and continue all the way to Kinshasa.”
The M23, Tutsi-led rebel movements backed by Rwanda, captured Goma in 2012 but withdrew days later after an agreement brokered by neighbouring nations.
Congo has more than 100 armed groups, mainly in the east of the central African nation of 100 million people.
DR Congo: Thousands flee Goma as rebels reach centre of eastern city
Source: Africafeeds.com
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
