The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo says M23 rebel forces are advancing towards the country's main eastern city of Goma.
The rebels loyal to renegade Congolese army officer, General Bosco Ntaganda, on Friday captured Bunagana, a strategic town at the Congo-Uganda border, sending thousands of refugees and at least 600 Congolese government troops to Uganda.
On Sunday, rebels overrun Rutshuru, another strategic town located 70km north of Goma. The rebels are now said to be 40km from Goma, near the Rwandan border.
Kikaya Bin Karubi, the Congolese Ambassador to United Kingdom was quoted by the BBC as saying Rwanda is backing the rebels, a claim supported by the UN but vehemently denied by Rwanda. Kikaya was quoted as saying the rebels appeared to be taking towns and villages with ease, with government troops running away.
DR Congo has accused the Kigali government of wanting to keep it unstable so it can exploit its rich mineral wealth.
The United Nations Group of Experts last week published a report linking Rwanda to the current conflict in Eastern DR Congo.
On Saturday, shortly after taking over Bunagana and Rutshuru, the rebels called for talks with the Joseph Kabila government.
M23 took up arms in April this after they failed to be integrated into the national army as par the March 23, 2009 agreement with the government. Their name, M23, is coined from that date o the agreement. Their current leader, Gen Bosco Ntaganda, is wanted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court (ICC). They defected from the army amid pressure on the government to arrest Ntaganda.
An estimated 200,000 people have fled their homes since April, with about 20,000 crossing the border to Uganda and Rwanda.
Uganda Red Cross Society (URCS) says that a total of 16,270 refugees are currently living at Nyakabande Transit Centre in Kisoro district. The agency says has doubled its volunteers at Nyakabande Transit Centre and Bunagana border to 50 following an increase in the number of Congolese refugees. On Monday alone, 241 refugees were registered by URCS and the UN refugee agency, the UNHCR.
In a press release on Monday, URCS Secretary General Michael Richard Nataka noted that since July 5th, the number of refugees that are crossing into Uganda from DR Congo has steadily increased. According to Nataka, the current needs are food and water at the border, improved hygiene and sanitation at Nyakabande and Bunagana, shelter, reproductive health care, first aid and psychosocial support.
