Blitz Bureau
ADDIS ABABA: United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres has said the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (DRC) “territorial integrity” must be preserved after M23 fighters attacked the eastern provincial capital of Bukavu, a report carried by Al Jazeera said.
Addressing an African Union (AU) summit in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, Guterres said a “regional escalation must be avoided at all costs”, said the report.
The 55-nation body is meeting as Rwanda-backed M23 fighters claim to have taken control of Kavumu airport serving Bukavu, capital of South Kivu province, in eastern DRC, it said further.
“The fighting that is raging in South Kivu – as a result of the continuation of the M23 offensive – threatens to push the entire region over the precipice,” Guterres was quoted as having told leaders at the summit, without mentioning Rwanda.
Local media said explosions went off in Bukavu on February 15, with casualties reported.
With the spectre of a regional conflagration rising in eastern DRC – and international bodies increasingly sounding the alarm – the AU has been criticised for its timid approach and observers have demanded more decisive action.
Al Jazeera’s Catherine Soi, reporting from Kenya’s capital Nairobi, spoke to M23 commanders who said they are in the process of “securing” Bukavu.
Army officers in Kavumu airport fled without a fight after seeing a bloody raid conducted by the armed group in Goma, said Soi. “Now M23 has the control of both South Kivu and North Kivu, which have vast mineral resources.” M23 now has control of Lake Kivu, as well, which is of strategic importance for the transfer of supplies between the two areas, the Al Jazeera report said.
