Burundi retreats, Uganda enters fray as Rwanda-backed M23 fight on in DRC

M23 rebels patrol Bukavu's center and are threatening to take another city of eastern DRC. (Photo/AP)

Burundi is withdrawing its forces from eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where they had been fighting against Rwanda-backed M23 rebels, in a further blow to DRC's army as it struggles to halt a rebel advance even as Uganda deployed troops in the town of Bunia in eastern DRC "to fight local militias."

It comes as M23 rebels appeared to be heading toward a third major city in eastern DRC, frightened residents said on Tuesday, as international pressure rose over M23's expansion in the mineral-rich region that's critical for global technology.

Burundi's pull-out came as the UN human rights office accused M23 rebels of executing children in eastern DRC during their advance, which has seen the group seize the region's two largest cities.

"A number of trucks filled with (Burundian) military arrived in the country since yesterday" through a border post, a Burundian army officer said, confirming movements also described by two UN sources and an African diplomat.

Burundian soldiers fought alongside DRC military to try to defend Kavumu, home to the airport that services Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu province, which fell over the weekend.

It was the M23 rebels' most significant prize since they seized Goma, the biggest city in eastern DRC, in late January.

Burundi has had soldiers in eastern DRC for years, initially to hunt down Burundian rebels there, but more recently, to aid in the fight against M23.

Uganda sends troop into eastern DRC

Meanwhile, Uganda's army on Tuesday said it had deployed troops in the town of Bunia in eastern DRC to fight local militias.

"We have deployed our troops in Bunia," Ugandan military spokesman Felix Kulayigye said.

"There were massacres being committed by some militia groups and we agreed with our Congolese counterparts to carry out joint operations to save lives."

Bunia is the capital of Ituri province, where Uganda already had thousands of troops, working primarily alongside DRC forces against Allied Democratic Forces, one of the 120 rebel groups tormenting eastern DRC.

But in the highly complex dynamics of the war-torn region, Uganda has also been accused, by UN experts and others, of working against DRC interests by supporting the M23 rebels and controlling some of the region's valuable mining interests.

Uganda has strongly denied the accusations.

Analysts fear that the latest escalation of violence in eastern DRC could lead to a repeat of the situation in 1998 when Uganda and Rwanda backed rebel groups in the region.

That triggered what became known as the Second Congo War that lasted until 2003, drawing in multiple African countries and resulting in millions of deaths from violence, disease and starvation.

Civilians watch as members of the M23 rebel group patrol the streets of Goma in North Kivu province. (Photo/Reuters)

M23 advance on third city

Buoyed by recent successes M23 rebels, meanwhile, appeared to be heading toward a third major city in eastern DRC, frightened residents said.

"We’re afraid that the enemy will advance to Butembo," said Auguste Kombi, a civil society leader in Kitsombiro, a town on the road to the city of over 150,000 people.

He told The Associated Press that all main DRC army positions along the road in the area were attacked on Tuesday morning, and security was rapidly deteriorating.

It means the M23 are now moving both north and south of Goma, the city of over 2 million people it seized last month as about 3,000 people were killed. The rebels this week seized another provincial capital to Goma's south, Bukavu, near Burundi.

The M23 is the most prominent of some 120 armed groups vying for control of eastern DRC trillions of dollars in mineral wealth.

The rebels are supported by about 4,000 troops from neighbouring Rwanda, according to UN experts, and at times have vowed to march as far as DRC's capital, Kinshasa, over 1,600 km away.

"We're worried because we’re in danger of experiencing a situation similar to that in Goma, with the loss of human lives," said Kambale Nyuliro, a Kitsombiro civil servant. He said Lubero town, on the way to Butembo, was surrounded on three sides by M23 fighters but still under DRC army's control.

"Since the fighting began, the enemy has only advanced," he said.

Analysts have said the rebels are eyeing political power, unlike their brief capture of Goma, a major security and humanitarian hub, in 2012.

The rebel-appointed mayor of Goma said on Tuesday they would carry out a census, in a sign of their intention to maintain control of the city. And ferry service resumed between Goma and Bukavu, the only way to travel between them for now.

Rwanda has accused DRC of enlisting ethnic Hutu fighters responsible for the 1994 genocide in Rwanda of minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus.

M23 says it's fighting to protect Tutsis and Congolese of Rwandan origin from discrimination and wants to transform DRC from a failed state to a modern one. Analysts have called those pretexts for Rwanda's involvement.

Also Tuesday, the UN human rights chief accused the Rwanda-backed rebels of killing children and attacking hospitals and warehouses storing humanitarian aid.

Volker Turk said in a statement that his office "confirmed cases of summary execution of children by M23 after they entered the city of Bukavu last week. We are also aware that children were in possession of weapons."

He provided no details, but UN agencies have previously accused both the rebels and DRC's forces of recruiting children.

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Source: TRT