ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — The leader of the rebels who captured two key cities in eastern Congo tells The Associated Press that international sanctions and Congo’s proposed minerals deal with the United States in search of peace will not stop the fighting.
Meanwhile, neighboring countries announced a broader peace facilitation team to seek a resolution to the conflict.
With a $5 million bounty placed on the rebel leaders by Congo’s government, “we will fight like people who got nothing to lose in order to secure the future of our country,” said Corneille Nangaa, leader of the Congo River Alliance that includes the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group.
Nangaa dismissed Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi’s comments last week that his country — whose mineral resources are estimated to be worth $24 trillion and critical to much of the world’s technology — is looking for a minerals partnership with the U.S.
The U.S. government has not publicly spoken about any such deal, which local observers say could be similar to the Trump administration’s recent offer to Ukraine to help end the war with Russia.
“This problem can be better resolved by the concerned Congolese, not foreigners with different geopolitical agendas,” Nangaa told the AP over the weekend. “Trying to bribe U.S. with mines can undermine U.S. credibility.”
The rebel leader also rejected the outcome of last week’s meeting between Congolese and Rwandan leaders in Qatar, saying such a move to achieve peace without his group’s involvement would fail. He said the rebels can only have a dialogue with Congo’s government if the country acknowledges their grievances and the root causes of the conflict.
“Anything regarding us which are done without us, it’s against us,” Nangaa said.
Since launching a major escalation of their decadelong fighting with Congolese forces in January, the M23 rebels have captured the cities of Goma and Bukavu and several towns in eastern Congo, prompting fears of regional war involving neighbors whose militaries are also on the ground.
Efforts to achieve a ceasefire collapsed last week after the rebels pulled out of talks facilitated by Angola, condemning European Union sanctions on its leaders. After Angola's president and chairperson of the African Union, Joao Lourenco, withdrew as the key mediator on Monday, southern and eastern African leaders announced at a joint summit that a panel of five former African presidents to help seek a peaceful resolution of the conflict.
The panel will appoint a mediator to replace the Angolan leader, the president's office in Congo said Tuesday in a statement posted on X.
Also Monday, the M23 rebels said their planned withdrawal from the strategic town of Walikale, which they captured last week, is delayed because Congolese forces are allegedly still positioned in the area with attack drones. M23 spokesman Lawrence Kanyuka said their presence “compromises” peace initiatives. The AP has reached out to Congo’s military.
Holding Walikale gives the rebels control of a road linking four provinces in eastern Congo — North Kivu, South Kivu, Tshopo and Maniema — effectively cutting off Congolese army positions.
The M23 is the most potent of about 100 armed factions vying for control in eastern Congo. It is mainly made up of ethnic Tutsis who failed to integrate into the Congolese army. The group says it is defending ethnic Tutsis and Congolese of Rwandan origin from discrimination.
Although U.N. experts estimate there are up to 4,000 forces from neighboring Rwanda supporting the rebels in Congo, Nangaa asserted that the rebel alliance is independent and seeks to address “the root cause of more than 30 years of instability in our country.”
FILE - Former members of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC) and police officers who allegedly surrendered to M23 rebels arrive in Goma, Congo, Sunday, Feb. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa, file)
FILE - Rebel leader of group of Alliance Fleuve Congo (AFC) including M23, Corneille Nangaa, addresses a news conference in Goma, Democratic republic of the Congo, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga, file)
BOSTON (AP) — The Boston Celtics entered this season with hopes of ending the NBA’s six-season drought without a repeat champion.
With a mostly unaltered roster led by All-Stars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, they looked like a team poised to do it after romping through the regular season and posting their second straight 60-win season while earning the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference.
But it all thudded to the surface in the postseason, cemented by Boston’s 4-2 conference semifinals loss to a New York Knicks team that it had previously dominated this season. The Celtics are now the sixth consecutive NBA champion to fail to make it out of the second round the following season.
Just as painful as getting dethroned at NBA champions was the devastating ruptured Achilles tendon injury to Tatum late in Game 4, which sidelined him for the final two games of the series. The 27-year-old is now staring at a rehabilitation process that will knock him out for most, if not all, of next season.
It casted a pall not only over the remainder of the New York series but has thrust the Celtics’ future into uncertainty heading into the offseason. That sentiment was clearly on Brown’s mind in the aftermath of their elimination as he tried to offer Boston’s fans some hope.
“This journey is not the end. It’s not the end for me. I look forward to coming back stronger. You just take this with the chin up,” Brown said. “I know, Boston, it looks gloomy right now obviously with JT being out, and us ending the year, but there’s a lot to look forward to. I want the city to feel excited about that. This is not the end.”
But it may not be that simple.
Boston’s payroll this season put it over the salary cap and will make them a luxury-tax team for the third consecutive season. It means they will be hit with a “repeater tax” penalty for being over the cap threshold in three out of four seasons.
With payroll for next season on track to come in around $225 million, next year’s tax bill would be at almost $280 million. The combined potential $500 million total price tag would be a league record.
It is unclear whether the team’s incoming ownership will want to keep paying those hefty penalties to maintain the current roster after agreeing to a purchase in March that is expected to have a final price of a minimum of $6.1 billion.
It could mean belt tightening in some fashion this offseason with 11 players currently under contract.
Tatum signed an NBA-record five-year, $314 million contract last July that will begin next season and pay him $54 million. Brown is playing under a five-year, $304 million deal that kicked in this season. He will make $53 million next season. That is followed by Jrue Holiday ($32 million), Kristaps Porzingis ($30 million), Derrick White ($28 million) and Sam Hauser ($10 million).
Of the top nine rotation players this season, only veteran Al Horford and Luke Kornet are free agents.
But there are concerns beyond the financial ones.
Porzingis’s health will also be in the spotlight after he was hampered throughout the latter part of the regular season and playoffs with a lingering viral illness that sapped him of strength and rendered him a virtual nonfactor against the Knicks.
Though he said he doesn’t think it will be a long-term thing.
“The best thing I need right now is just to rest. Just get somewhere in the sun and just let the rest of my system even itself out,” he said.
One positive sign is that he said he plans to still play for home country Latvia in EuroBasket this summer.
Then there’s Brown, who entered this postseason dealing with a right knee issue but was able to play through it. He has said he's unsure whether it will require surgery this offseason.
Even with that uncertainty, Brown's optimism remains high, although he acknowledged tough times may be ahead.
“Losing to the Knicks feels like death,” he said. “But I was always taught there’s life after death.”
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Trainers check on Boston Celtics' Jayson Tatum after he was injured during the second half of Game 4 in the Eastern Conference semifinals of the NBA basketball playoffs against the New York Knicks Monday, May 12, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Boston Celtics' Jaylen Brown (7) defends New York Knicks' Jalen Brunson as Kristaps Porzingis watches during the first half of Game 6 in the Eastern Conference semifinals of the NBA basketball playoffs Friday, May 16, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Boston Celtics' Jaylen Brown, third from left, watches with teammates during the second half of Game 6 in the Eastern Conference semifinals of the NBA basketball playoffs against the New York Knicks Friday, May 16, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
