30 10 13 Reuters: Congo rebels abandon last town, withdraw to hills
Civilians celebrated in the
streets on Wednesday as Congolese troops entered the eastern border town of Bunagana after a major new
success in their offensive to crush a 20-month rebellion.
The town was the first
seized last year by M23 rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the last
they held after being forced back recently by Congo's U.N.-backed army.
A Reuters reporter in
Bunagana said residents flocked onto the streets to cheer the arrival of
Congolese government troops, calling them liberators.
"I'm very happy, we've
been under occupation for a long time. We felt very threatened by M23, we were
constantly surrounded by their soldiers," said a resident who gave his
name only as Damien.
The rebels appeared to have
withdrawn before the army arrived.
A Congolese army officer in
Goma, the regional capital, told Reuters government troops would now move to
mop up pockets of rebel fighters in the hills around Bunagana.
Roger Lumbala, a former
member of parliament who is a senior member of the M23 negotiating team at
peace talks in Uganda,
confirmed the rebels had pulled back but said this was due to diplomatic
pressure rather than military defeats.
"It is the diplomatic
push that has led M23 to withdraw its troops from the major towns," he
told Reuters by telephone.
Lumbala said Ugandan
mediators had sent a helicopter to pick up M23 leader Bertrand Bisimwa and that
the group was ready to sign a peace deal with the government.
Lt. Col. Paddy Ankunda, a
spokesman for Uganda's army,
said delegations from both sides were holding talks in Uganda despite events on the
ground.
Bunagana was strategic
during the rebellion, allowing the M23 to control lucrative cross-border
taxation and giving them access to Uganda
and Rwanda,
which are accused by U.N. experts of backing the rebels, something both nations
deny.
Since peace talks stalled
last week, U.N.-backed Congolese forces have closed in on M23 positions across North Kivu province. The U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo,
known as MONUSCO, said on its Twitter page on Wednesday that "several
dozen" M23 rebels had turned themselves in.
A combination of diplomatic
pressure on Rwanda,
a beefed up U.N. mission and a much-improved Congolese army compared to last
year when rebels seized Goma, appears to be bearing fruit.
"While M23 is not yet
fully defeated, there is little doubt that it has suffered a crushing military
loss," Darren Olivier wrote on the African Defence Review website.
Analysts and diplomats say
M23 fighters will have pulled back to the steep, mountainous hills near the
meeting point of Congo, Rwanda
and Uganda's
borders, an area they know well.
ICC: No amnesty,
immunity
M23 is the latest
incarnation of insurgents led by Tutsis in eastern Congo
fighting the Kinshasa government following the
end of Congo's
last major war a decade ago. Millions have died in fighting or from hunger and
disease linked to the conflicts.
While Congo's political and military leaders have
appeared eager to impose a military solution on rebels this time, government
spokesman Lambert Mende said on Wednesday that Kinshasa was ready for further talks.
Some nations, including the
United States and Rwanda,
have warned of further violence if no diplomatic solution is found.
However, the thorny
question of whether to grant amnesties to insurgents has been a sticking point
in talks.
Fatou Bensouda, prosecutor
at the International Criminal Court, issued a statement on Wednesday warning
all sides she was closely monitoring the conflict.
"There can be no
amnesty, no immunity, and no impunity for these crimes," she said.
The government and the
United Nations have accused the rebels of massacring civilians and using child
soldiers.