DR Congo's M23 rebels warn of new conflict risk

Source: AFP World News

Kampala, 7 November 2014 - The leader of the Democratic Republic of Congo's defeated M23 rebels has warned of the possibility of renewed conflict, signalling mounting frustrations among the group's confined-to-camp fighters.

The rebels' 18-month war, during in which they briefly seized the key town of Goma, capital of mineral rich North Kivu province, was brought to an end a year ago by government troops and UN peacekeepers, with fighters fleeing into neighbouring Uganda and Rwanda.

According to the Ugandan army, close to 1,300 rebels -- the bulk of their surviving fighting force -- signed papers in May vowing not to fight again in return for a possible amnesty, but M23 president Bertrand Bisimwa said that if Kinshasa did not fulfil its side of the deal, he could not "give guarantees for what will happen tomorrow."

"The main causes of this conflict should be dealt with, the causes remain. Today, the security situation in the country has completely deteriorated," he told AFP in an interview in the Ugandan capital Kampala.

"Negative forces continue to plunder the east," he said, complaining that no other rebel force "has been disarmed or stopped."

"They continue to kill. The number of women raped increases each day. The question of refugees has not been resolved. The issue of national reconciliation has simply been forgotten," Bisimwa said.

While the M23 were defeated, multiple armed groups still operate in a region that has been in turmoil for the best part of the past two decades.

Much of the rebel activity consists of abuses against civilians and illegal exploitation of natural resources, be it metals, ivory or timber.

- No guarantees -