By South China Morning Post | Created at 2025-01-31 04:41:33 | Updated at 2025-01-31 06:49:34
2 hours ago
Rwanda-backed rebels who captured eastern Democratic Republic of Congo’s largest city said on Thursday they want to take their fight to the far-off capital, Kinshasa, while Congo’s president called for a massive military mobilisation to resist the rebellion and his defence minister rejected calls for talks.
In a video message, DR Congo’s Defence Minister Guy Kabombo Muadiamvita said he has directed plans for any dialogue with the rebels to “be completely burned immediately”.
“We will stay here in Congo and fight. If we do not stay alive here, let’s stay dead here,” said Muadiamvita, a close ally of Congo’s president.
At a briefing where they sought to assert their control over the eastern city of Goma and surrounding territory in the neighbouring South Kivu province, the M23 rebels said they would be open to dialogue with the government, also proposed by the east African regional bloc of which Rwanda is a member.
Their motive, however, is to gain political power, Corneille Nangaa, one of the political leaders of M23, said during the briefing. “We want to go to Kinshasa, take power and lead the country,” Nangaa said. He did not indicate how the rebels planned to advance on the capital, more than 1,500km (nearly 1,000 miles) away.
Rwanda’s leader, Paul Kagame said he spoke with Angola’s President Joao Lourenco – a mediator in the conflict who also met with Congo’s leader a day earlier – and both leaders committed to working with other African countries to resolve the hostilities.
