UN: Defeat Forced M23 into Talks with Congo

{{Congolese and United Nations troops pushed back the M23 rebel group, forcing it back to the negotiating table and removing a threat to the city of Goma, the UN peacekeeping chief has said.}}

Herve Ladsous on Thursday called the military action a “very significant achievement” that inflicted casualties on the M23 and likely led the rebels to resume talks with the government in neighboring Uganda’s capital, Kampala.

“The M23 group has been pushed back towards the north to such a place that it does not any more pose the direct threat that it had posed for such a long time either on the city of Goma” or surrounding camps for displaced people and UN positions, reporters quoted him as saying.

M23, which the United Nations says has received support from neighboring Rwanda, launched an assault on Goma last month, sparking fierce battles with government forces.

Aided by UN peacekeeping troops and the new UN intervention brigade, Congolese troops pounded rebel positions and reclaimed several areas that had been occupied by the M23 until the rebels unexpectedly declared a cease-fire, saying they wanted to resume talks.

In a Security Council meeting, Ladsous said that with the resumption of talks “diplomacy has become again the order of the day.”

AFP