Sawt Falasteen - Rwanda-backed M23 pledges to 'march all the way to Kinshasa'

The group's capture of most of Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, is a dramatic escalation in a region that has seen decades of conflict involving multiple armed groups.

Rwanda says its primary interest is to eradicate fighters linked to the 1994 genocide but is accused of seeking to profit from the region's reserves of minerals used in global electronics.

"We will continue the march of liberation all the way to Kinshasa," Corneille Nangaa, head of a coalition of groups including the M23, told reporters in Goma.

"We are in Goma and we will not leave... for as long as the questions for which we took up arms have not been answered," he said.

He went on to promise that the group would restore electricity and security in the city in the coming days, adding they would establish humanitarian corridors to help the displaced return.

It comes after Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi pledged to continue fighting in an address to the nation late Wednesday, promising a "vigorous and coordinated response against these terrorists and their sponsors is under way".

Local sources told AFP late Wednesday that Kigali-backed fighters were advancing on a new front and had seized two districts in South Kivu province.

The Congolese army has yet to make a statement about the M23 advances.

After days of intense clashes that left more than 100 dead and nearly 1,000 wounded, according to an AFP tally, some Goma residents on Thursday ventured out to take stock.

"We do not want to live under the thumb of these people," one person, who wished to remain anonymous, told AFP.

- 'Direct engagement' -

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot arrived in the capital Kinshasa on Thursday and was due to meet Tshisekedi.

Tshisekedi's decision to boycott talks on Wednesday with his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame did "not bode well for a negotiated end to the conflict," said ACLED Senior Africa Analyst Ladd Serwat.

The regional East African Community bloc called for peace, urging the DRC to "directly engage with all stakeholders, including the M23".

In a late-night tweet, Kagame warned South African President Cyril Ramaphosa that his country was "in no position to take on the role of a peacemaker or mediator".

Thirteen South African soldiers have been killed in the past week in the DRC, part of a UN peacekeeping force as well as the Southern African Development Community's Mission in DRC (SAMIDRC).

Kagame said the SAMIDRC "is not a peacekeeping force, and it has no place in this situation".

The 16-nation Southern African Development Community will hold a special summit on the crisis on Friday in the Zimbabwean capital.

Angola, which has mediated a ceasefire between the DRC army and M23 in the past, has also called for the Congolese and Rwandan leaders to meet urgently in Luanda.

- 'Nothing left to eat' -

M23 fighters and Rwandan troops entered Goma on Sunday and after clashes took control of the airport, with AFP reporters saying they were the only forces remaining downtown.

Residents could be seen on the streets on Thursday, despite fears.

"There is nothing left to eat, everything has been looted," said Bosco, a resident who gave only one name.

"We need help urgently."

The offensive has heightened an already dire humanitarian crisis in the region, causing food and water shortages and forcing half a million people from their homes this month, the United Nations said.

Earlier, hundreds of Congolese soldiers and pro-Kinshasa militiamen, unarmed and wearing white headbands, were marched through the city centre by M23 fighters, a security source said.

- M23 advance 'will continue' -

The UN, US, China and European Union have all called on Rwanda to withdraw its forces from the region.

DRC is rich in gold and other minerals such as cobalt, coltan, tantalum and tin used in batteries and electronics worldwide.

Kinshasa has accused Rwanda of waging the offensive to profit from the region's mineral wealth -- a claim backed by UN experts who say Kigali has thousands of troops in its neighbour and "de facto control" over the M23.

Kagame has never admitted military involvement, saying Rwanda's aim is to destroy a DRC-based armed group, the FDLR, created by former Hutu leaders who massacred Tutsis during the genocide.

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K.AbuDahab--SF-PST