The Democratic Republic of Congo government has offered a reward of $5m for help arresting three leaders of a rebel group which has seized much of the east of the country this year, according to the BBC.
Corneille Nangaa, a former head of DRC’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.
The BBC reports that the three men were prosecuted in absentia by a military court last year and given death sentences for treason.
A further reward of $4m has been offered for the arrest of two journalists living in exile, and others the government describes as accomplices.
In recent weeks the army has been no match for the Rwandan-backed rebels who have captured large parts of the mineral-rich eastern DRC, including the region’s two largest cities − Goma and Bukavu.
In January, 14 South African soldiers lost their lives as a result of clashes with M23 rebels in the eastern DRC.
According to DefenceWeb, these soldiers were part of the SANDF contingent deployed to the region as part of both the Southern African Development Community Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO). They were killed during the M23 offensive on Goma.
[Image: MONUSCO Photos – https://www.flickr.com/photos/monusco/52050077294/, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=117695664]