Neither Rwandan President Paul Kagame nor his Congolese counterpart Felix Tshisekedi attended Friday’s AU assembly.
A Congolese authorities supply informed AFP Tshisekedi wouldn’t attend the summit over the weekend both, saying: “He should intently comply with the state of affairs on the bottom in DRC.”
Tshisekedi, talking on the Munich Safety Convention on Friday, urged nations to “blacklist” Rwanda, condemning Kigali’s “expansionist ambitions”.
Having captured the important thing provincial capital of Goma final month, the Rwandan-backed armed group M23 pushed south.
Rwanda has not admitted backing M23 however has accused extremist Hutu teams in DR Congo of threatening its safety.
Weak talks
Because the AU summit opens, observers have branded the African Union ineffective within the DRC disaster.
“The AU has no energy on this battle and is enjoying the spectator,” Thierry Vircoulon, of the French Worldwide Relations Institute (IFRI), informed AFP.
Worldwide Disaster Group’s Nice Lakes venture director Richard Moncrieff was additionally pessimistic about what the AU might obtain.
“Kagame has clearly calculated that his finest method is to push ahead, and he does have some help,” he informed AFP.
“Some African leaders have bother defending Congo as a result of they do not defend themselves.”
M23 rebels in Bukavu
M23 took an important airport earlier than marching nearly unchecked into one other key metropolis, Bukavu, on Friday, safety and humanitarian sources stated.
“I affirm that we entered Bukavu this night, and tomorrow, we’ll proceed with the operation to scrub up the town,” Corneille Nangaa, chief of the Congo River Alliance, which incorporates the M23, informed Reuters.
Residents additionally reported seeing the militants within the streets of a northern district.
The Congolese military didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Earlier on Friday, the Congolese military confirmed that M23 fighters had taken management of Kavumu airport, north of Bukavu, and that Congolese troops had pulled again with their gear.
The rebels have been making an attempt to push south in direction of Bukavu since they seized Goma, in North Kivu, the most important metropolis in jap Congo, on the finish of final month.
Any escalation in combating might worsen the humanitarian state of affairs, with the UN saying on Thursday that there had been an inflow of displaced individuals shifting in direction of the town, the place practically 1.3 million individuals already reside.
The seize of Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu province, would signify an unprecedented enlargement of territory underneath the M23’s management because the newest insurgency began in 2022, and deal an extra blow to Kinshasa’s authority within the east.
(with newswires)
