The head of the African Union is calling on Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo to lower tensions. The DRC accuses Rwanda of supporting the rebel group M23, which continues to battle the Congolese army in eastern Congo. But analysts are doubtful the tensions or the situation in eastern Congo as a whole will soon improve. Calm has returned in some parts of the eastern DRC, which saw heavy fighting last week between the Congolese army and the rebel group M23. Reports say the Congolese army, with the help of the U.N. peacekeeping force MONUSCO, recently repelled a rebel advance on the city of Goma. The reports say M23 fighters have now returned to their hideouts near the border with Uganda. But residents of North Kivu and Ituri remain fearful of M23 and other armed groups in the region, which have competed for years for control of the area’s rich mines. Some of the groups have ties to Rwanda, Uganda or Burundi.
SOURCE: VOA