DRC warns rebel revival could endanger elections

The Democratic Republic of Congo has warned that the re-emergence of the M23 rebellion in the east is endangering a deal with the opposition intended to lead to a presidential election this year.

In a letter to the president of the U.N. Security Council, Congo’s ambassador to the United Nations, Ignace Gata Mavita, detailed a series of M23 incursions that began in November and accelerated last month.

He said the fiscal strain would imperil the political agreement and “perturb the electoral process itself”.

Lack of money was one of the reasons cited by President Joseph Kabila’s government for its failure to hold elections last year as scheduled.

M23 was eastern Congo’s most powerful rebel group until its defeat by Congolese and U.N. forces in 2013.

Many of its fighters fled into neighbouring Uganda and Rwanda, where they have been kept in camps.

The rebels accuse Kinshasa of dragging its feet on promises to repatriate them under the terms of a peace deal.