M23 fighters seize key city in DR Congo

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00:00Vendors selling fruit and people milling about.

00:03A day after M23 rebel fighters entered the centre of Bukavu, the city appeared calm.

00:10We're less afraid now.

00:12The fear is still there but little by little we see more people moving about.

00:17The troops who enter do not bother anyone.

00:20You can go right past them and they will not stop you or ask for identification.

00:27The columns of fighters met with little resistance on Sunday as they arrived in the key city.

00:33But there are still signs of violence and the looting that took place by men, women

00:38and children, some of whom picked up weapons abandoned by retreating government troops.

00:45We want the authorities who are now in the city to help us with security.

00:49Here in Bukavu we have a serious problem with these young children who have already taken

00:54up arms.

00:55They are shooting in the neighbourhoods, preventing people from going to work.

00:59We ask the authorities in the city to take away their weapons so that every citizen can

01:04go about their daily activities as usual.

01:08The fall of the city of one million people gives the M23 fighters and Rwandan troops

01:14total control of Lake Kivu following their capture of Goma last month.

01:19Thousands had already fled Bukavu ahead of the M23's arrival.

01:24The conflict has so far displaced more than six million people in the region.

01:29Growing international calls have been made for Rwanda to end its military backing of

01:33M23, though it still denies that its troops are in the DRC, all vying for control of the

01:39country's trillions of dollars in mineral wealth.

01:42At the African Union summit over the weekend, leaders continued to call for a ceasefire,

01:47although they have been reluctant to take decisive action against M23 or Rwanda, which

01:52is one of Africa's most powerful militaries.

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