The Democratic Republic of Congo authorities has supplied a reward of $5m (£4m) for assist arresting three leaders of a insurgent group which has seized a lot of the east of the nation this 12 months.
Corneille Nangaa, a former head of DR Congo’s electoral fee, now leads the Congo River Alliance, which incorporates the M23 insurgent group. He has addressed giant rallies within the cities underneath the group’s management.
The bounty can be on provide for M23 leaders Sultani Makenga and Bertrand Bisimwa.
Final 12 months the three males had been prosecuted in absentia by a army court docket and given dying sentences for treason.
A reward of $4m (£3) was additionally supplied for the arrest of their accomplices.
However the possibilities of them being arrested seem slim.
In current weeks the military has been no match for the Rwandan-backed rebels who’ve captured giant components of the mineral-rich jap DR Congo, together with the area’s two largest cities – Goma and Bukavu.
So President Félix Tshisekedi has as a substitute targeted on making an attempt to construct worldwide strain for Rwanda to face sanctions for backing the rebels.
Final 12 months, a report by UN consultants mentioned as much as 4,000 Rwanda troops had been working with the M23 in DR Congo.
Hundreds of individuals have been killed throughout the combating and a whole bunch of 1000’s left with out shelter after fleeing their houses.
The Congolese authorities can be searching for US help in trade for entry to its minerals.
DR Congo accuses Rwanda of making an attempt to take management of its minerals, which embrace gold and coltan, utilized in shoppers electronics equivalent to cellphones and computer systems.
In response to the reviews that DR Congo was providing entry to the minerals in trade for army assist combating the M23 rebels, presidential spokeswoman Tina Salama said on X last month that President Tshisekedi was inviting the US “whose firms supply strategic uncooked supplies from Rwanda, supplies which might be looted from the DRC and smuggled to Rwanda” to as a substitute purchase them from the Congolese – the “rightful homeowners”.
Rwanda denies looting minerals from DR Congo.
It now not denies backing the M23 however says it’s making an attempt to stop the battle in DR Congo from spilling over into its personal territory.
Rwanda additionally accuses the Congolese authorities of working with a special armed group in DR Congo, which is linked to these chargeable for the 1994 Rwandan genocide, wherein some 800,000 folks, largely ethnic Tutsis had been massacred.
Each the M23 and Rwanda’s authorities are led by Tutsis.
The Congolese authorities denies working with the FDLR group accused by Rwanda of being a “genocidal militia”.
[BBC]
Extra in regards to the battle in DR Congo:
[Getty Images/BBC]
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