International calls mount for Congo rebels to cease fire

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In the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where there have been several days of ferocious fighting, there have been increasing international calls for the rebels to hand over their weapons.

Former Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said Rwandan President Paul Kagame was prepared to pressure the resurgent M23 militant group to cease fire and withdraw from conquered territory. Kenyatta is mediating the conflict.

Kenyatta is the East African Community's "facilitator" in efforts to restore peace and security in the mineral-rich east of the impoverished country where many armed groups are active.

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The Congolese M23 seized vast kilometers of territory across North Kivu and moved toward the region's main city of Goma in combat that has displaced tens of thousands of people.

The fighting also reignited regional tensions, with the DRC accusing its much smaller neighbor Rwanda of backing the M23, something that UN experts and US officials have also pointed to in recent months.

"Kenyatta, in discussion with President Kagame, agreed on the need for an immediate ceasefire," Kenyatta's office said late Friday after a phone call between the two men.

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"President Kagame also agreed to assist the EAC facilitator to urge the M23 to ceasefire and withdrawal from captured territories," it said in a statement in English.

However, Kigali denies supporting the M23 and accuses Kinshasa of colluding with the FDLR, a former Rwandan Hutu rebel group established in the DRC after the 1994 genocide of mainly Tutsis in Rwanda.

'No to Rwandan aggression' 

Kenyatta's statement about Kagame was a form of acknowledgment that Rwanda could indeed influence the M23, according to some Congolese. "At last, Paul Kagame admits that his country is attacking the DRC!" lawmaker Solange Masumbuko said on Twitter.

Protests against Rwanda and in support of the Congolese armed forces were staged on Saturday in several cities, including Kinshasa and Bukavu, in the east, with marchers chanting, "No to Rwandan aggression." 

The M23 must immediately withdraw and end hostilities, the United States, Belgian, British, and French envoys for the Great Lakes region demanded on Friday.

They said in a statement that the resumption of violence since October 20 "undermines peace efforts and has caused further insecurity and significant human suffering."

Eastern Congo is home to more than 120 armed groups, many of which are a result of local conflicts that erupted at the turn of the century.