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UGANDA
Uganda has also supported the M23, although on a smaller scale, said the U.N. report. This has allegedly been driven by a few powerful Ugandans intent on profiteering from access to Congo's rich mineral resources. Uganda denies supporting M23. The rebels feel comfortable in Uganda and can come and go as they wish. Their external relations official is now based in Kampala, Uganda's capital. The U.N. report did not accuse Uganda of orchestrating an official policy of backing the rebels, but it said some within the military were using their influence to procure arms and ammunition for the rebels. The U.N. investigators even claim that units of the Rwandan and Ugandan armies have fought alongside M23 soldiers against the Congolese army. A "mixed brigade" of Rwandan and Ugandan soldiers allegedly numbered more men than the massed ranks of the M23 forces, said the U.N. report.
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WHAT'S NEXT
The Congolese army — underfed, poorly supplied and rarely paid — have repeatedly retreated in the face of M23 attacks. Even if the rebels withdraw from Goma now, military experts say the well-organized, well-supplied M23 will remain to seize the key city again. U.N. investigators claim that the ultimate goal of M23 and Rwanda is the annexation of the North and South Kivu provinces and the region's mineral wealth. They say the battle for Goma may be just the beginning of a long and bloody conflict for control of eastern Congo.
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