Dhaka, Senegal (AP) – Rwanda-backed M23 rebels have kidnapped at least 130 patients and injured men in two hospitals in a major eastern Congo city, the United Nations said on Monday.
On February 28, M23 fighters raided the CBCA Ndosho Hospital in the strategic city they captured earlier this year and cured African hospitals in Africa, Ravina Sharmdasani, spokesman for the UN Human Rights Office, said in a statement.
The rebels occupied them from the CBCA and 15 Heal Africa patients, suspected of being members of the Congolese army soldiers or pro-government Wazalendo militia.
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“What is painful about M23 is that M23 is snatching the hospital beds in a coordinated raid and holding them in an undisclosed location,” Sharmdasani said, calling for immediate release.
Since the beginning of the year, the M23 rebels have swept across eastern Congo, occupying major cities and killing about 3,000 people in the most important escalation of conflict in a decade.
In a three-week lightning strike, M23 took control of Goma, the main city in eastern Congo and occupied the second largest city of Bukaf. The region is rich in gold and aristocratic, a key mineral used in most consumer electronics products, such as laptops and smartphones.
According to UN experts, the rebels received about 4,000 soldiers from neighboring Rwanda, sometimes vowing to Kinshasa, the Congo’s capital, for more than 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers).
Rwanda accused Congo of recruiting ethnic fighters responsible for the genocide of the 1994 Rwandan minority Tussis and moderate Hutus.
M23 said it is working to protect the Tussis and Congolese in Rwanda from discrimination and hopes to transform Congo from a failed state to a modern state. Analysts say the excuses were involved in Rwanda.
Last week, Bukavu bombings attacked a rally held by leaders of the M23 rebel group, with at least 11 people killed and injured in scoring.
