Leaders from the Southern African Development Community met Friday in Zimbabwe to discuss the conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo between the government and M23 rebels. The 16-nation bloc, which includes DRC, resolved to meet with its East African counterpart — the East Africa Community — about the matter.
Elias Magosi, executive secretary of the 16-nation SADC, would engage with “state and nonstate parties to the conflict on a ceasefire process to protect lives and facilitate a smooth flow of humanitarian support.”
Magosi said the M23 rebels fighting the DRC army were backed by the Rwanda Defense Force — an allegation that Kigali has repeatedly denied. The United Nations and the United States classify M23 as armed rebels, while Kinshasa designates it as a terrorist group.
DRC is a member of the SADC and the East Africa Community, or EAC, while Rwanda is an EAC member.
Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who is the chairman of the SADC, said, “I am confident that the concrete decisions adopted today will further propel forward the joint ongoing efforts to finding lasting solutions to restore peace and normalcy in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.”
‘Dire humanitarian crisis’
Dr. Francis Akili, a health project manager of Action Sante, a humanitarian nongovernmental organization operating in eastern DRC, told VOA of a “dire humanitarian” crisis in areas around Goma, the capital and the largest city of the region's North Kivu province.
He said the region faces a severe lack of food, water and electricity, exacerbating an already critical situation.
“We call on SADC, the EAC and the international community to take concrete and decisive actions to restore stability,” he said. “The people of eastern Congo have suffered for too long.”
In a video posted Friday on a U.N. website, U.N. Human Rights spokesperson Jeremy Laurence warned that the crisis continues to deepen following M23’s takeover of Goma.
“Since the start of the crisis, bombs have struck at least two IDP [internally displaced person] sites, causing civilian casualties,” he said.
“We have also documented summary executions of at least 12 people by M23 between the 26th and the 28th of January. Our office has also documented cases of conflict-related sexual violence by the army and the allied Wazalendo fighters in Kalehe territory. We are verifying reports that 52 women were raped by Congolese troops in South Kivu, including alleged reports of gang rape,” Laurence said.
DRC President Felix Tshisekedi did not attend an EAC meeting earlier in the week. He did not attend Friday's SADC meeting, either, but was said to be following it online.
