New rebels capture town in east Congo

A rebel group in the Democratic Republic of Congo has seized control of the eastern town of Kitchanga after days of fighting that have left more than 80 people dead, the UN says.

The Alliance of Patriots for a Free and Sovereign Congo, better known by its French acronym APCLS, took the town in North Kivu province on Sunday, AFP quoted deputy UN spokesman Eduardo Buey as saying on Monday.

Around 100 people have also been injured in the clashes, Buey added.

He noted that the situation in the town remains very tense, and more than 300 displaced persons have sought refuge near the UN peacekeeping base in Kitchanga.

Kitchanga is in the Masisi region of North Kivu, close to where the Congolese Army and UN peacekeepers are in a showdown with the March 23 movement (M23) rebels.

Clashes between the army and APCLS broke out in the region last week.

The fighting occurred despite the UN-brokered peace deal recently signed by 11 African nations, including the Democratic Republic of Congo.

On February 24, the eleven countries in the Great Lakes region of Africa signed a UN-mediated peace agreement meant to end the interminable cycles of violence that have been plaguing the eastern Congo for many years.

Several armed groups, including the M23 rebels, are active in the east of the DRC and fighting for control of the country’s vast mineral resources, such as gold, the main tin ore cassiterite, and coltan (columbite-tantalite), which is used to make many electronic devices, including cell phones.

The M23 rebels defected from the Congolese Army in April in protest over alleged mistreatment in the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC). They had previously been integrated into the Congolese army under a peace deal signed in 2009.

Since early May 2012, nearly 3 million people have fled their homes in the eastern Congo. About 2.5 million have resettled in Congo, but more than 460,000 have crossed into neighboring Rwanda and Uganda.

Congo has faced numerous problems over the past few decades, such as grinding poverty, crumbling infrastructure, and a war in the east of the country that has dragged on since 1998 and left over 5.5 million people dead.