Rebels from the Congo River Alliance (ARC), which includes the March 23 Movement (M23), intend to continue their offensive and want to go to the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kinshasa, one of the ARC leaders, Corneille Nangaa, announced at a press conference held in the Congolese city of Goma, which was captured by the rebels this week.
“We are in Goma to stay. We are Congolese. We shall continue the march of liberation to Kinshasa. When they ask us to retreat, where do they want us to retreat to? We are not going anywhere,” Nangaa said, as per the translation.
Last summer, a DRC tribunal sentenced Nangaa to death in absentia for treason and war crimes.
M23 troops entered Goma, the capital of the Congolese province of North Kivu, on the evening of last Sunday.
Three days later, the rebels had almost completely taken control of the city, which has a population of over 2 million. M23 troops are reported to have begun moving toward Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu province.
On Monday, the head of the rebel alliance stressed that the group's goal was not to take control of specific regions of the country, but to "reconstruct the state." The rebel leader added that the fight was taking place across the country and that he had many allies, but declined to provide further details.
He said M23 planned to "secure" Goma and its residents before moving on.