ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — The leader of the rebels who captured two key cities in eastern Congo tells The Associated Press that international sanctions and Congo's proposed minerals deal with the United States in search of peace will not stop the fighting.
Meanwhile, neighboring countries announced a broader peace facilitation team to seek a resolution to the conflict.
With a $5 million bounty placed on the rebel leaders by Congo’s government, “we will fight like people who got nothing to lose in order to secure the future of our country,” said Corneille Nangaa, leader of the Congo River Alliance that includes the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group.
Nangaa dismissed Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi's comments last week that his country — whose mineral resources are estimated to be worth $24 trillion and critical to much of the world's technology — is looking for a minerals partnership with the U.S.
The U.S. government has not publicly spoken about any such deal, which local observers say could be similar to the Trump administration's recent offer to Ukraine to help end the war with Russia.
“This problem can be better resolved by the concerned Congolese, not foreigners with different geopolitical agendas,” Nangaa told the AP over the weekend. “Trying to bribe U.S. with mines can undermine U.S. credibility.”
The rebel leader also rejected the outcome of last week's meeting between Congolese and Rwandan leaders in Qatar, saying such a move to achieve peace without his group's involvement would fail. He said the rebels can only have a dialogue with Congo's government if the country acknowledges their grievances and the root causes of the conflict.
“Anything regarding us which are done without us, it’s against us,” Nangaa said.
Since launching a major escalation of their decadelong fighting with Congolese forces in January, the M23 rebels have captured the cities of Goma and Bukavu and several towns in eastern Congo, prompting fears of regional war involving neighbors whose militaries are also on the ground.
Efforts to achieve a ceasefire collapsed last week after the rebels pulled out of talks facilitated by Angola, condemning European Union sanctions on its leaders. After Angola's president and chairperson of the African Union, Joao Lourenco, withdrew as the key mediator on Monday, southern and eastern African leaders announced at a joint summit that a panel of five former African presidents to help seek a peaceful resolution of the conflict.
The panel will appoint a mediator to replace the Angolan leader, the president's office in Congo said Tuesday in a statement posted on X.
Also Monday, the M23 rebels said their planned withdrawal from the strategic town of Walikale, which they captured last week, is delayed because Congolese forces are allegedly still positioned in the area with attack drones. M23 spokesman Lawrence Kanyuka said their presence "compromises" peace initiatives. The AP has reached out to Congo's military.
Holding Walikale gives the rebels control of a road linking four provinces in eastern Congo — North Kivu, South Kivu, Tshopo and Maniema — effectively cutting off Congolese army positions.
The M23 is the most potent of about 100 armed factions vying for control in eastern Congo. It is mainly made up of ethnic Tutsis who failed to integrate into the Congolese army. The group says it is defending ethnic Tutsis and Congolese of Rwandan origin from discrimination.
Although U.N. experts estimate there are up to 4,000 forces from neighboring Rwanda supporting the rebels in Congo, Nangaa asserted that the rebel alliance is independent and seeks to address “the root cause of more than 30 years of instability in our country.”
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
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