PRETORIA, February 16. /TASS/. Rebels from the March 23 Movement (M23) have taken control of the Congolese part of a checkpoint on the border with Rwanda near the city of Bukavu, the Rwandan Broadcasting Agency reported.
The Congolese part of the Rusizi border crossing has been under the M23 control since Monday morning after officers of the DR Congo’s border and customs services had left it on Saturday.
The Rusizi checkpoint is located in the eastern part of the city of Bukavu, the capital of the South Kivu province. The crossing processes a larger part of people and cargoes moving between Rwanda and South Kivu.
The rebels continue entrenching in Bukavu having seized the regional administration building in the afternoon on Sunday. No fighting is reported from the city, with only sporadic gunshots being heard.
M23 units entered Bukavu late on February 14. According to the Okapi radio stations, after government forces and militia units left the city, it was taken by the rebels without any resistance.
Bukavu's population exceeds one million. About a million more people live in camps for displaced persons and refugees in its suburbs. At the end of January, M23 rebels captured the city of Goma, the administrative center of the neighboring province of North Kivu.