Democratic Republic of Congo: Army forces M23 rebels to retreat to mountain base
The army in the Democratic Republic of Congo, backed by UN forces, has forced M23 rebels to retreat to their mountain holdout near the eastern border with Uganda, the rebels said Tuesday.
After 36 hours of silence, the rebel Movement of March 23 (M23) published a statement on its website to say that the withdrawal was “in no way a sign of weakness”, but a tactical retreat to Bunagana, the base of its political leaders.
After four days of fierce fighting, which claimed the life of a Tanzanian peacekeeper, the head of the UN mission in the DR Congo (MONUSCO) said late Monday that “practically all M23 positions were abandoned, except for a small triangle at the Rwandan border.”
Martin Kobler told the UN Security Council by video-link that “it is practically the military end of M23.”