Red Cross evacuates Congolese troops from rebel-held town
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) says it is facilitating the evacuation of several hundred disarmed Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) soldiers and police from territory held by the M23 rebel group.
The service personnel, as well as their families, are being moved from the capital of the African nation’s troubled eastern region of North Kivu, to Kinshasa.
The evacuation followed a request from Congolese authorities, the United Nations, and the AFC/M23 rebel alliance, for the ICRC to act as a neutral intermediary, the humanitarian organization announced in a statement.
“Under the terms of the agreement concluded with the ICRC, the parties involved committed to ensuring the safety of the people in the convoys and to working towards the success of the operation,” it stated.
M23 rebels captured Goma from government forces in late January. The fighting, which weeks later saw the fall of Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu, is reported to have killed at least 8,500 people, including children and peacekeepers, and forced hundreds of thousands of civilians to flee.
The United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the DR Congo (MONUSCO) said several people, mostly Congolese forces, had sought refuge at its peacekeeping base in Goma following the city’s capture.
In a statement on Wednesday, MONUSCO welcomed the evacuation operation and thanked the ICRC for its “key role” as a facilitator.
“The operation will take place over several days and will consist of several convoys,” the mission announced.
The Congolese Armed Forces (FARDC) has also hailed the removal, expressing “deep gratitude to MONUSCO for the work accomplished by its field teams in protecting members of the FARDC” for more than three months.
The operation comes amid a pause in fighting between the government and the M23 rebels, whom Kinshasa alleges are supported by neighboring Rwanda. Kigali has repeatedly denied the allegations.
Last Friday, the DR Congo and Rwandan foreign ministers signed a US-mediated agreement to end the decades-long conflict, promising to produce a draft peace deal by May 2.
Meanwhile, peacekeepers from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) have reportedly begun withdrawing from eastern DR Congo after the bloc ended its military mission in mid-March.
