Joseph Winter & Will Ross
BBC News
The Democratic Republic of Congo government has offered a reward of $5m (£4m) for help arresting three leaders of a rebel group which has seized much of the east of the country this year.
Corneille Nangaa, a former head of DR Congo’s electoral commission, now leads the Congo River Alliance, which includes the M23 rebel group. He has addressed large rallies in the cities under the group’s control.
The bounty is also on offer for M23 leaders Sultani Makenga and Bertrand Bisimwa.
Last year the three men were prosecuted in absentia by a military court and given death sentences for treason.
A reward of $4m (£3) was also offered for the arrest of two journalists living in exile, and others the government describes as accomplices.
But the chances of anyone being arrested appear slim.
In recent weeks the army has been no match for the Rwandan-backed rebels who have captured large parts of the mineral-rich eastern DR Congo, including the region’s two largest cities – Goma and Bukavu.
So President Félix Tshisekedi has instead focused on trying to build international pressure for Rwanda to face sanctions for backing the rebels.
Last year, a report by UN experts said up to 4,000 Rwanda troops were working with the M23 in DR Congo.
Thousands of people have been killed during the fighting and hundreds of thousands left without shelter after fleeing their homes.
The Congolese government is also seeking US support in exchange for access to its minerals.
DR Congo accuses Rwanda of trying to take control of its minerals, which include gold and coltan, used in consumers electronics such as mobile phones and computers.
In response to the reports that DR Congo was offering access to the minerals in exchange for military help fighting the M23 rebels, presidential spokeswoman Tina Salama said on X last month that President Tshisekedi was inviting the US “whose companies source strategic raw materials from Rwanda, materials that are looted from the DRC and smuggled to Rwanda” to instead buy them from the Congolese – the “rightful owners”.
Rwanda denies looting minerals from DR Congo.
It no longer denies backing the M23 but says it is trying to prevent the conflict in DR Congo from spilling over into its own territory.
Rwanda also accuses the Congolese government of working with a different armed group in DR Congo, which is linked to those responsible for the 1994 Rwandan genocide, in which some 800,000 people, mostly ethnic Tutsis were massacred.
Both the M23 and Rwanda’s government are led by Tutsis.
The Congolese government denies working with the FDLR group accused by Rwanda of being a “genocidal militia”.
