Rwandan soldiers and artillery supported Sunday’s attack by M23 rebel group on the Congolese border town of Bunagana, Regional authorities in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo said.
Rwanda has repeatedly denied Congo’s accusations that are part of an escalating dispute between the neighbours that has revived old animosities.
It has however echoed M23 charges that Congo is cooperating with the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), an armed group run by ethnic Hutus who fled Rwanda after taking part in the 1994 genocide.
Fighting between the government forces and the army intensified over the last couple of weeks, after the Congolese government designated the M23 as a terrorist group and refused their calls for a bilateral ceasefire or peace negotiations.
epelled the early-morning attacks.
“The goal pursued by Rwanda is to occupy Bunagana in order not only to asphyxiate the city of Goma but also to put pressure on the Congolese government,” it said in a statement.
But the rebels’ spokesman Willy Ngoma claimed that they are now in control of the whole town.
The claim follows heavy fighting between the army and rebels that on Monday saw some government soldiers cross over to Uganda, the UN-backed Radio Okapi reported citing sources.
Ugandan army spokesperson Brig Gen Felix Kulaigye said the soldiers were being received at a Ugandan army barracks at the border town of Bunagana. Some of the Congolese soldiers are reported to have arrived in military vehicles while others crossed on foot.
Bunagana town is strategic in cross-border trade and is located some 70km (43 miles) north-east of Goma, the capital of North Kivu province.
The town served as M23’s base when they captured Goma in November 2012 before they lost the war and fled to Uganda.
