PRETORIA, January 29. /TASS/. Rebels from the March 23 Movement (M23) group, backed by the Rwandan army, have launched an offensive on Bukavu, the capital city of the South Kivu province in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Reuters reported.
M23 units are heading toward Bukavu from the north, following the capture of Minova by the rebels on January 21, the agency noted. The two towns are 145 kilometers apart. The main road runs along the shores of Lake Kivu, the eastern part of which belongs to Rwanda.
Bukavu is home to over one million people. The province of South Kivu is extraordinarily rich in natural resources and is the DRC's leading gold producer.
In turn, the AFP news agency quoted Vincent Karega, the Rwandan Ambassador-at-Large for the Great Lakes Region, as saying that the rebels do not intend to stop their offensive in the eastern DRC after capturing the capital of the North Kivu province, Goma.
He said that if negotiations are not held with the Congolese government, the rebels "will continue" in South Kivu because Goma is not the end goal.
Meanwhile, the M23 command announced that the last major hotbed of resistance in Goma had been suppressed on January 29, and that the city was now fully in the hands of the rebels. M23 troops, backed by the Rwandan army, entered Goma late on January 26.