UN SC team wraps up DRC visit, calls for dialogue to end M23 rebel conflict
As the UNHCR has warned of escalating violence in North Kivu province, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, that has forced nearly 300,000 people to flee the region last month, a United Nations Security Council delegation wrapped up a three-day visit to the country on Sunday March 12, stressing the urgent need to find a political solution to end the raging M23 rebel conflict.
The M23 rebel group has recently seized even more swathes of territory in the DRC’s North Kivu province, prompting United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) spokesperson Matthew Saltmarsh to warn of a growing humanitarian catastrophe, where fighting between government forces and armed groups has caused hundreds of thousands of people to flee. M23 fighters have also advanced in recent days, threatening to cut off all road links to Goma, a city of more than one million people on the Rwandan border. Fighting between Congolese forces and the M23 — which is allegedly backed by Rwanda — has displaced over 800,000 people, according to the UN.
Meanwhile, the UN Security Council delegation met Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi in the capital, Kinshasa, before traveling to Goma on Saturday, March 11. In Goma, the team held talks with local officials, civil leaders and toured a displaced persons’ camp.
The Security Council visit came after the collapse of an Angola-mediated cease-fire, which was due to take effect last Tuesday. Several previous peace initiatives have also failed.
On Saturday, shelling during M23-army clashes killed five civilians in Kahumiro, 120 kilometers north of Goma, according to security officials and local residents.
The DRC government accuses Rwanda of backing the M23. Independent U.N. experts, the United States, and several other Western states have also concluded that Rwanda supports the Tutsi-led group. Kigali denies the charge.
Several ambassadors to the UN, including Gabon’s Michel Xavier Biang, pleaded for dialogue as the only way to solve the conflict and stressed that diplomacy must prevail.
