M23 rebels have seized the town of Minova in eastern DR Congo, a key supply route for the provincial capital Goma, authorities said.
The provincial governor of South Kivu, Jean-Jacques Purusi, on Tuesday confirmed the capture of Minova, adding that the rebels have also captured the mining towns of Lumbishi, Numbi and Shanje in the same province, as well as the town of Bweremana in neighbouring North Kivu province.
The Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC’s) army acknowledged that the rebels had made “breakthroughs” in Minova and Bweremana. It did not say if the towns had been captured.
M23, or the March 23 Movement, is an armed group composed of ethnic Tutsis who broke away from the Congolese army more than 10 years ago. Since its resurgence in 2022, M23 has continued to gain ground in eastern DRC.
It is one of about 100 armed groups that have been vying for a foothold in mineral-rich eastern Congo, in a decades-long conflict that has created one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises.
Since 1998, approximately six million people have been killed while roughly seven million have been displaced internally.
More than 237,000 people have been displaced by the fighting in eastern Congo since the beginning of this year, the United Nations refugee agency said in a report on Monday.
The DRC and the United Nations accuse Rwanda of supporting M23 with troops and weapons – something Rwanda denies.
Battles near Goma
Fighting has been taking place on several fronts around Goma and hundreds of thousands of people are displaced around the outskirts of the city, which was briefly captured by the M23 in 2012.
Speaking from Goma, Al Jazeera’s Alain Uaykani said that “people in Goma are worried about bombs from the front line reaching neighbourhoods in the city.”
Many routes leading to Goma have been cut off by fighting, and people often cross Lake Kivu with supplies on overloaded boats. Shipwrecks are frequent on the lake.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that most international organisations and NGOs based in Minova have temporarily suspended their activities.
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