Congolese slam intl. community for complicity in M23 rebel’s violence

Hundreds of Congolese marched to the British and French consulate earlier this week, carrying banners calling out the “international community’s ambiguity” in the face of the M23 (March 23) rebels.

The demonstration took place after a meeting in Luanda where the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Burundi, Rwanda as well as the East African Community envoy called for a ceasefire to take effect November 25 and a subsequent withdrawal of the M23 rebels from the major towns in hold. Some protesters carried banners in support of the Congolese armed forces who are fighting M23 rebels. Other placards were hostile to the recent agreement. The protestors delivered a letter to both French and British consulates with grievances including an end to the international community’s ambiguous response in the face of the M23 aggression.

“We demand the international community — as a whole — to ask the Rwandan and Ugandan heads of state to urgently withdraw their fighters camouflaged under the label of M23/RDF/UPDF (rebel groups)”, John Banyene, the president of the civil society of Nord-Kivu said.

Meanwhile, Congolese and security experts have reacted cautiously to the announcement of an impending truce in an escalating conflict in eastern DRC. The M23 rebel group have been gaining ground since mounting an offensive in North Kivu province earlier this year. The fighting has sparked a surge in diplomatic tensions with neighboring Rwanda, which Congo accuses of abetting the rebels, a charge that Kigali denies.

However, the M23 rebels later said the ceasefire announcement “doesn’t really concern us” and called for “direct dialogue” with the DRC government. “M23 has seen the document on social media. … There was nobody in the summit [from M23], so it doesn’t really concern us,” Lawrence Kanyuka, political spokesman for the M23 group, told the media. The government in Kinshasa has refused to engage with M23 and has ruled out direct negotiations.