(Reuters) – The Congolese army called on deserters to rejoin their units on Thursday, as rogue soldiers fired guns and looted parts of the eastern town of Lubero after fleeing nearby clashes with advancing Rwandan-backed rebels.
The unrest points to mounting disarray within the Congolese armed forces in the face of the M23 rebel group’s ongoing offensive, which has captured eastern Democratic Republic of Congo’s two largest cities and stoked fears of a wider war.
A statement from a military spokesperson for operations in North Kivu province ordered runaway soldiers around Lubero to return to their posts within 12 hours and called on all soldiers to refrain from theft and other illegal acts.
Fighting with the M23 has continued outside the town, in the southern part of the wider Lubero territory, for the past 72 hours, Congolese army spokesperson Sylvain Ekenge told Reuters.
On Thursday morning, five residents of Lubero town described chaotic scenes linked to the desertions from the front line, including bursts of gunfire and looting at the central market and in shops selling mobile phones and clothes.
“It’s complete turmoil in Lubero. Shots can be heard … The soldiers are running in all directions,” said one of the residents, speaking on condition of anonymity out of security concerns.
Later, Lubero’s military administrator Alain Kiwewa said order had been restored in the town and blamed a group of undisciplined soldiers for sowing panic.
RETREAT FROM BUKAVU
Such incidents and a flare-up of fighting with the M23 around Lubero have added to pressure on the army. It staged a disorderly retreat in neighbouring South Kivu province after the M23 advance into the provincial capital Bukavu over the weekend led to clashes between Congolese forces and allied militias, which wanted to stay and fight.
The escalation has alarmed the wider region and the international community. On Thursday, the United States imposed sanctions on a Rwandan government minister and a senior rebel for their alleged role in the conflict.
Neighbouring Rwanda denies allegations from Congo and the United Nations that it supports the M23 with arms and troops. It says it is defending itself against Hutu militias which it accuses of fighting alongside the Congolese military.
Congo rejects this and says Rwanda has used the M23 as a proxy to loot its minerals such as gold and coltan, used in smartphones and computers.
Congo’s finance ministry on Thursday announced the launch of a solidarity fund for the army that allows citizens, companies and organisations to donate directly to the eastern war effort.
The initiative highlights the financial toll of the three-year insurgency which has seen the M23 capture unprecedented swathes of Congolese territory and valuable mining areas, renewing a conflict over power, ethnic rivalry and resources that dates back to the 1990s genocide in Rwanda.
(Reporting by Congo newsroom; Additional reporting by Sonia Rolley; Writing by Alessandra Prentice; Editing by Robbie Corey-Boulet)
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