M23 rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have taken control of Rubaya, a key mining town for the smartphone mineral coltan, following days of intense fighting, a rebel spokesman said.
Willy Ngoma, the Tutsi-led M23 military spokesman, told Reuters the town, in North Kivu, was under their control after they went after other armed groups in the region including the Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, which is composed of ethnic Hutus.
In February, the rebels accused a government-led coalition of “slaughtering the civilian population” in North Kivu Province and said they were “obliged” to stop what they said was an ongoing genocide.
Congo’s army spokesman for its operations against the rebel group, Lieutenant Colonel Guillaume Njike, told Reuters it could not confirm if the rebels had seized the town.
“We are in the process of cross-checking since yesterday whether or not it has fallen to the hands of the M23 rebels,” Njike said.
Most of Congo’s mineral resources are concentrated in the east, where insecurity has worsened since the M23 made a major comeback in March 2022.
Rubaya holds rich deposits of tantalum, which is extracted from coltan, and which is a critical energy transition mineral also used in the manufacture of smartphones, laptops and game consoles.
The M23 have already taken control of Rubaya twice for a few days since their current offensive began.
The Congolese government, UN officials and Western powers have accused Rwanda of providing support for M23, which Rwanda has repeatedly denied.
Last December, the newly created Congo River Alliance (AFC) comprising nine Congolese rebel groups including the M23 asked DR Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi to stop the killings of civilians in North Kivu Province where a government-led coalition was fighting the M23 rebel group. Corneille Nangaa, the rebel alliance coordinator and former electoral commission president, accused the Congolese army of indiscriminate bombings in populated areas in the east of the country.
