GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) -The M23 rebel group in Democratic Republic of Congo has seized the eastern town of Minova, a main supply route for the provincial capital Goma, a local governor and a rebel leader said on Tuesday as the army reported fighting on all fronts.
The Tutsi-led M23 group has been waging a renewed insurgency in the Central African country’s east since 2022. Congo and the United Nations accuse neighbouring Rwanda of backing the group with its own troops and weapons. Rwanda denies this.
Jean-Jacques Purusi, the governor of South Kivu province, confirmed to Reuters that M23 rebels had taken Minova.
Congolese army spokesperson Sylvain Ekenge did not say who controlled the town, but said in a statement that “the enemy has broken through to Bweremana in North Kivu and Minova in South Kivu.”
Fighting against “the Rwandan army and its proxies” is ongoing on all fronts, he said.
“Minova is in our hands,” said Corneille Nangaa, leader of the anti-government Congo River Alliance (AFC), which includes M23.
The fall of the town could put the key eastern city of Goma, around 40 km (24.85 miles) away, in the rebels’ sights.
A civilian in Minova, who asked not to be named, told Reuters that the rebels had entered the town in the early hours of Tuesday.
The sound of heavy weapons could later be heard in Goma, a Reuters witness said.
An international school in the west of Goma sent a message to parents, saying classes were cancelled because the noise was making it difficult to study.
Government forces fought to secure Minova but were eventually forced out, civil society leader James Musanganya told Reuters.
The rebels then tried to convince people to stay in the town after they started fleeing to more secure areas, he said.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) described the situation in Minova as tense.
A significant number of Minova’s residents, which already included a large number of displaced people, have fled further south, an OCHA statement said, citing estimates that fighting in the area had displaced over 178,000 people between Jan. 4-20.
It also said that most of the around 20 international and national NGOs based in Minova had temporarily suspended their activities and were keeping an eye on developments.
“If the aid workers leave, all these displaced people will be left without assistance,” a coordinator of an international NGO told Reuters.
Congo’s Communications Minister Patrick Muyaya told Reuters the government was monitoring the situation.
(Writing by Anait Miridzhanian; editing by Jason Neely, Ros Russell, Tomasz Janowski and Nia Williams)
