Several people have been killed and dozens more injured after blasts at a mass rally held by the M23 group in Bukavu, the city in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo captured by the rebels earlier this month.
Footage posted on social media showed people fleeing the scene. In another video, bloodied bodies lay on the ground and injured people were being carried away.
Thousands of people were present for the rally, which took place at Independence Square in the centre of Bukavu, which is the capital of South Kivu province and the second largest city in eastern DRC.
Among the rebel leaders present was Corneille Nangaa, the head of the Congo River Alliance (AFC), a coalition of militias that includes M23. They were leaving the podium when two blasts occurred, a journalist told the Associated Press.
Nangaa said at a press conference that 11 people had been killed and 65 injured. A similar toll was given by a hospital source to Agence France-Presse.
In a statement, the rebels accused the Congolese authorities of orchestrating the attack, adding: “This cowardly and barbaric act will not be without consequences.”
The DRC president, Felix Tshisekedi, called the attack “a heinous terrorist act that was perpetrated by a foreign army illegally present on Congolese soil”.
Jean Samy, the deputy president of the civil society Forces Vives of South Kivu, told the Associated Press that the attack was “a sabotage” carried out by unknown perpetrators.
Nangaa had earlier told the rally that M23 was bringing “change and development” to Bukavu, one of two key cities in the mineral-rich eastern DRC that it has captured this year. Last month it seized Goma, the largest city in the region.
The M23 advance is the gravest escalation in more than a decade of the long-running conflict in eastern DRC, rooted in the spillover of Rwanda’s 1994 genocide and the struggle for control of DRC’s vast minerals resources.
The region is rich in gold and coltan, a key mineral for the production of capacitors used in most consumer electronics such as laptops and smartphones.
The Rwandan-backed M23 is among more than 100 armed groups fighting Congolese forces in the region, which borders Rwanda and Uganda. It is made up of Tutsis who left the Congolese army more than 10 years ago.
DRC says Rwanda is directing the group in order to profit from the region’s mineral wealth. UN experts say Kigali is supporting the rebel effort with thousands of its troops. Earlier this month the Guardian reported that hundreds of Rwandan troops had died in DRC in recent offensives.
Until recently, Rwanda had denied backing the M23 group, though in recent months it has been more vague, saying fighting near the border threatens its security. It still denies it has a troop presence in its neighbour.
M23 has said it is trying to protect Tutsis and Congolese people of Rwandan origin from discrimination, but analysts says these claims are pretexts for Rwanda’s involvement.
In January, M23 started making renewed advances in eastern DRC, capturing swathes of territory as it fought against the Congolese army and allied forces.
The conflict has exacerbated the humanitarian situation in the region, killing thousands and displacing hundreds of thousands. DRC’s prime minister, Judith Suminwa, said on Monday that about 7,000 people had died in fighting.
The conflict has also pushed people out of the country. More than 40,000 people, mostly women and children, have fled to Burundi this month, including more than 9,000 in a single day.
Reuters and Associated Press contributed to this report
Source: theguardian.com
