M23 seizes key DRC town of Masisi

Rwandan-backed rebel forces have reportedly captured the town of Masisi in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.

This is the second town captured by the M23 group in as many days in the mineral-rich North Kivu province.

The group has taken control of vast areas of eastern DRC since 2021, forcing hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes.

Angola has been trying to mediate talks between President Félix Tshisekedi and his Rwandan counterpart, Paul Kagame. But these broke last month.

“We learned with dismay of the capture of the Masisi center by the M23,” Alexis Bahunga, a member of the North Kivu provincial assembly, told the AFP news agency.

He said this “plunges the territory into a serious humanitarian crisis” and urged the government to strengthen the army’s capacity in the region.

One resident told AFP that M23 had held a meeting with the town’s residents, stating that they had “come to liberate the country”.

Congolese authorities have not yet commented on the loss of the city.

Masisi, which has a population of around 40,000, is the capital of the territory of the same name.

It is located about 80 kilometers (50 mi) north of Goma, capital of North Kivu province, which the M23 briefly occupied in 2012.

On Friday, the M23 captured the nearby town of Katale.

Last year it was feared that the The M23 would march on Goma againa city of about two million inhabitants.

However, there was a lull in fighting until early December, when it resumed.

In July, Rwanda did not deny a UN report says it had about 4,000 soldiers fighting alongside the M23 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

He accused the Congolese government of not doing enough to address decades of conflict in the east of the country. Rwanda has previously said that authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo were working with some of those responsible for the 1994 Rwandan genocide against ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus.

The M23, formed as an offshoot of another rebel group, began operating in 2012 ostensibly to protect the Tutsi population in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, who had long complained of persecution and discrimination.

However, Rwanda’s critics accuse it of using the M23 to loot minerals from eastern DRC, including gold, cobalt and tantalum, which are used to make mobile phones and batteries for electric cars.

Last month, the Democratic Republic of the Congo said it was suing Apple over its use of such “blood minerals,” prompting the tech giant to say it had stopped receiving supplies from the country.