GOMA, Congo (news agencies) — Rwanda-backed rebels were expanding their presence in eastern Congo after capturing Goma, the region’s major city, the U.N. said Friday, also expressing concerns over executions it learned were carried out by the rebels in recent days following a major escalation of their yearslong rebellion.
Congolese forces, meanwhile, repelled the rebels in their offensive towards South Kivu’s provincial capital of Bakuvu on Thursday, residents and local officials said. The M23 rebel group has captured several towns after seizing neighboring Goma, a humanitarian hub critical for many of the 6 million people displaced by the conflict. They have said they will march to Congo’s capital, Kinshasa, which is nearly 1,000 miles (around 1,600 kilometers) away.
The M23 group is the most potent of more than 100 armed groups vying for control in Congo’s mineral-rich east, which holds vast deposits critical to much of the world’s technology. They are backed by around 4,000 troops from neighboring Rwanda, according to U.N. experts, far more than in 2012 when they first captured Goma in a conflict driven by ethnic grievances.
U.N. human rights office spokesman Jeremy Laurence spoke at a briefing on Friday about the worsening human rights crisis in the aftermath of the rebellion, including bomb strikes on at least two internally displaced persons camps that killed an unspecified number of people.
“We have also documented summary executions of at least 12 people by M23″ from Jan. 26-28, Laurence said, adding that the group has also occupied schools and hospitals in the province and are subjecting civilians to forced conscription and forced labor.
Congolese forces have also been accused of sexual violence as fighting rages on in the region, Laurence said.
“We are verifying reports that 52 women were raped by Congolese troops in South Kivu, including alleged reports of gang rape,” he said.
An attack by the rebels in Kalehe territory, about 140 kilometers (about 85 miles) from the South Kivu provincial capital, on Thursday was repelled by security forces, said Lt. Gen. Pacifique Masunzu, who commands a key military defense zone in South Kivu.
Congolese military bases in Bukavu were being emptied on Thursday to reinforce those along the way to the provincial capital, residents have told media.
Hundreds of young people were on Friday registering as volunteers to join military training in the provincial capital, according to Gabriel Kasanji, a local administrative officer. This follows Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi’s call on Thursday for a mass military mobilization.
The central African nation’s military has been weakened after it lost hundreds of personnel and foreign mercenaries who surrendered to the rebels after the fall of Goma.
As he took office on Friday as the new governor of North Kivu, which includes Goma, Maj. Gen. Somo Kakule Evariste vowed to “move as soon as possible” to Goma to restore government control.
“This is not the time for speeches,” the general said. “The flame of resistance will never be extinguished.”
As much of Goma remained without water and electricity supplies, residents trekked for hours to fetch water from Lake Kivu.
“We want the war to end so that we can resume normal life. Coming here every day, we will not make it,” said Badeja Matanda, a Goma resident.
M23 has tried to assert their control over the city, saying on Thursday that they were working to restore electricity and water supplies cut in the city of about 2 million people as the fighting raged on.
“We are going to struggle until we restore democracy,” said Corneille Nangaa, one of the political leaders of M23. “From a failed state to a modern state.”
Chinedu Asadu reported from Abuja, Nigeria. Ruth Alonga, Brian Inganga and Jackson Njehia in Goma, Jean-Yves Kamale and Christina Malkia in Kinshasa, and Mark Banchereau in Paris, contributed to this report.
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