Photo credit: Aljazeera
Dozens of protesters in Kinshasa attacked foreign embassies, demanding action against M23 rebels in the country’s east.
Euro News reports that several embassies including those of France, Belgium and Rwanda were attacked on Tuesday. They demanded to push back against the advance of M23 rebels in the country’s conflict-battered east.
But police fired teargas at the protesters as they marched to the embassies, reportedly looting and setting fires to parts of buildings. The embassies of Kenya and Uganda were also attacked, according to AP journalists at the scene.
DR Congo’s security forces were attempting to slow the Rwanda-backed rebels, who advanced into Goma, a key eastern city. The M23 rebels are one of about 100 armed groups vying for a foothold in the mineral-rich region in the conflict.
The humanitarian situation of Goma “is extremely, extremely worrying, with a new threshold of violence and suffering reached today,” Bruno Lemarque, the United Nations humanitarian coordinator for Congo said.
