GOMA/MINOVA, Democratic Republic of Congo: A rebel spokesman in Congo said his fighters have pulled back several miles (kilometers) to the town of Sake and are on track to leave the eastern city of Goma today, in accordance with a deadline imposed by the nations neighboring Congo.
Meanwhile, a Congolese government army commander said yesterday only war could end a rebellion in the east by Tutsi-led insurgents.
M23 rebels opposed to President Joseph Kabila seized Goma, provincial capital of Democratic Republic of Congo’s eastern North Kivu province on Nov. 20, after routing United Nations-backed government forces.
At Minova, a town held by the government army FARDC south of Goma, Olenga Tete said government troops were preparing to re-enter Goma after the rebels left it.
“I am going back to Kinshasa to prepare for war. I’m going to ask our leaders for permission to wage war. We don’t want more negotiations. It’s war that will bring peace to Congo,” he said, as government soldiers mustered under a blazing sun.
Congo’s ill-disciplined and demoralized army have suffered a succession of embarrassing defeats at the hands of M23 and many officers are appalled at any thought of a deal.
One rebel spokesman had said the withdrawal from Goma would take place on Friday, but another said it could take longer.
Defense officials from neighboring countries were due to travel to Goma to verify the planned pullback of the insurgents from positions in and around the city.
Congo’s eastern borderlands have suffered years of recurring conflict stoked by long-standing ethnic and political enmities and fighting over the area’s rich resources of gold, tin, tungsten and coltan, which is used to make mobile phones.
By late morning, lines of FARDC soldiers carrying weapons and ammunition were advancing north from Minova on the road to Goma, approaching to within a few kilometers of M23 positions. UN peacekeepers held ground between the two opposing forces.
At an army barracks in Goma, M23 deputy spokesman Amani Kabasha told Reuters the rebels planned to leave the city but he could not confirm this would be completed on Friday. “We have lots of ammunition we need to pull out,” he told Reuters as soldiers loaded cases of bullets onto a truck.
Congo general pledges war as rebels retreat to Sake
