Anti-Rwanda protests spread throughout eastern DRC
Anti-Rwanda protesters march to the border of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda in Goma, on October 31, 2022. Thousands of anti-Rwanda protesters marched through the eastern DR Congo city as M23 rebels tightened their grip on the surrounding countryside. Photo | AFP
What you need to know:
- M23, or March 23 Movement, a largely Tutsi group, has been on the offensive over the past two years in Nord-Kivu, with combat recently intensifying around the provincial capital Goma
- Demonstrators called for the closing of the borders with Rwanda and Uganda, which has also been accused of supporting the rebels.
- Some also called for breaking off relations with the United States, France and Britain for their presumed connivance with Rwanda.
Protests against Rwanda and Western countries spread throughout eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Thursday, with demonstrators accusing them of complicity with a rebel group that has wreaked havoc in the region.
In Bukavu, capital of Sud-Kivu province, hundreds of people calmly marched to demand the liberation of parts of neighbouring Nord-Kivu occupied by M23 guerrillas, according to AFP reporters.
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M23, or March 23 Movement, a largely Tutsi group, has been on the offensive over the past two years in Nord-Kivu, with combat recently intensifying around the provincial capital Goma.
"The years pass, the dead, the suffering and the trauma multiply in this part of the country," said Adrien Zawadi, president of a local civil society organisation. "It must end."
Western governments and the United Nations accuse Rwanda of supporting the M23, though Kigali denies the claim.
Demonstrators called for the closing of the borders with Rwanda and Uganda, which has also been accused of supporting the rebels. Some also called for breaking off relations with the United States, France and Britain for their presumed connivance with Rwanda.
A similar demonstration in Kisangani in Tshopo province called for a declaration of war against Rwanda and breaking off relations with allegedly complicit Western countries.
Several hundred women on Wednesday marched in the capital Kinshasa to call for an end to the war, while a few youths burned cars and tyres outside Western embassies and United Nations offices.
