DRC Alleges Somalia and Kenya Support M23 Rebels
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has accused Somalia and Kenya of supporting M23 rebels in South Kivu, alleging foreign troops are fighting alongside the group.
Authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have accused Somalia and Kenya of deploying soldiers to fight alongside the M23 rebel movement in South Kivu province.
According to reports monitored by BBC Monitoring, the administrator of Fizi Territory in South Kivu claimed on July 5 that soldiers from Somalia and Kenya were seen fighting with M23 rebels in the Hauts Plateaux region.
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Fizi administrator Samy Kalonji Badibanga alleged that the foreign troops were operating alongside Rwandan forces, Twirwaneho fighters, the Burundian rebel group Red Tabara, and M23 in clashes against Congolese government forces.
He further claimed that the fighting has resulted in civilian deaths and forced thousands of residents to flee their homes. The accusations come as the Congolese government has repeatedly alleged that Kenya supports M23 and allied armed groups. However, this marks the first time Kinshasa has publicly accused Somalia of involvement in the conflict. The BBC Somali Service said it was unable to independently verify the claims.
As of publication, neither the governments of Kenya nor Somalia had responded to the allegations, although Kenya has previously denied any involvement in supporting M23. The allegations emerge amid renewed fighting in eastern DRC, where government forces and allied Wazalendo militias claim to have made gains against M23 in both North Kivu and South Kivu provinces. On July 6, Congolese forces and Wazalendo fighters announced they had recaptured three villages near Minembwe in South Kivu.
M23, a rebel group that split from the Congolese army nearly two decades ago, says it is fighting to protect the country's Tutsi community, which it claims has long faced persecution and discrimination.
United Nations experts have repeatedly reported that Rwanda provides support to M23, an allegation Kigali has consistently denied. Rwanda, in turn, accuses the DRC government of cooperating with armed groups linked to perpetrators of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, claims that continue to fuel tensions between the two neighboring countries.
