Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi said he is going to begin discussions to form a unity government, as international pressure mounts for the to resolve the crisis in the country’s east.
, supported by about 4,000 troops from neighboring , according to UN experts, have been leading an insurgency in the central African country since last month.
The rebels captured the eastern city of Goma, a city of 2 million people, last month, as about 3,000 people were killed. The rebels seized another provincial capital to Goma’s south, Bukavu, a city of more than a million people, earlier this week.
Bukavu , whose troops have been fighting alongside the Congolese Army. Fighting between the Congolese army and M23 rebels has fanned fears of a wider regional war.
Tshisekedi says he will reach out to opposition
In some of his first statements since rebels captured the major cities, Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi told a meeting of the ruling Sacred Union coalition to not be distracted by internal quarrels.
“I lost the battle and not the war. I must reach out to everyone including the opposition. There will be a government of national unity,” said Tshisekedi.
He didn’t give more details on what that would entail or when it would happen.
Regional leaders have urged talks between M23 and the Congolese government. But Tshisekedi has previously ruled out such dialogue, saying the rebels were a Rwandan proxy army.
UN Security Council urges Rwanda to stop supporting M23 rebels
The UN Security Council demanding that the “M23 immediately cease hostilities, withdraw from all areas that it controls” and “fully reverse the establishment of illegitimate parallel administrations in the DRC territory.”
“There is no military solution to the conflict in the east of the DRC,” he said. “The offensive carried out by the M23 supported by Rwanda must be put to an end.”
M23 rebels say it’s fighting to protect Tutsis and Congolese of Rwanda origin from discrimination and fighting against an ethnic Hutu militia group with links to the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
Congo accuses the rebels of expanding their foothold in Congo’s mineral-rich region and analysts have called those pretext for Rwanda’s involvement.
Edited by Zac Crellin
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