War looms in DRC despite rebel withdrawal

As promised, the rebel M23 forces moved out of Goma on Saturday, pulling back the agreed 20 kilometres to allow a dialogue to begin with the government in Kinshasa. The rebels take with them an arsenal of weapons and munitions captured from the government forces who abandoned the Democratic Republic of Congo’s second city without firing a shot. But the week-old ceasefire brokered by the Great Lakes states led by Uganda looks in imminent danger of collapse after the DRC’s new military chief sounded off: “Now it’s war that will bring peace in Congo. It is you, the Europeans, who said ‘if you want peace, make war’. Well, we’re preparing for war now,” said General François Olenga. Government police are already returning and are hearing complaints of pillage or worse by M23 which, under the terms of the ceasefire shares the running of the international airport and retains the right to station at least 100 armed men in the city.