M23’s unilateral ceasefire a 'ploy', DR Congo govt spokesman says
After attacking the eastern DR Congo city of Goma last week, the M23 rebel group unilaterally decreed a humanitarian ceasefire that was supposed to have been in force since Tuesday. Congolese government spokesman Patrick Muyaya on Wednesday denounced the ceasefire as a "ploy" after the Rwandan-backed armed group began a new offensive at dawn.
A new dawn offensive by the M23 armed group and Rwandan forces in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) shows that its unilaterally declared ceasefire is a "ploy", the Congolese government said Wednesday.
"This is proof that the unilateral ceasefire that has been declared was, as usual, a ploy," DRC government spokesman Patrick Muyaya told AFP.
The M23 rebels and Rwandan troops launched a new offensive early Wednesday, security and humanitarian sources said, a day after a humanitarian "ceasefire" unilaterally announced by the armed group was to take effect.
Intense clashes broke out at dawn between the M23 and its Rwandan backers and Congolese armed forces, the sources said.
In more than three years of fighting between the parties, half a dozen ceasefires and truces have been declared, before being systematically broken.
The DRC’s foreign minister on Wednesday blasted the lack of international action over the offensive in the east of the country.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
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