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KAMPALA, Uganda At least 1,700 Congolese M23 rebels, including the top commander, have surrendered to Ugandan authorities following their defeat by Congolese troops, a Ugandan military official said Thursday. Gen. Sultani Makenga, M23's military commander, and his fighters were being held by the Ugandan military in Mgahinga, a forested area near the Congo border, the official said. The rebels had been disarmed and were being registered by Ugandan officials, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to give this information. This week the rebels lost control of all the territory they once held...

Rebels in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are threatening to retake the eastern city of Goma if their demands aren't met, less than one week after the United Nations called for them to turn in their weapons or risk forceful intervention from UN peacekeeping forces. The rebel group M23 is a reincarnation of older insurgent movements, and just one of dozens of militias in the region. It takes its name from a March 23 peace agreement that saw the rebels' absorption into the chronically weak Congolese army in 2009. The group consists mainly of Congolese nationals from the Tutsi...

Explanation: This fifteen degree wide field of view stretches across the crowded starfields of Sagittarius toward the center of our Milky Way galaxy. In fact, the center of the galaxy lies near the right edge of the rich starscape and eleven bright star clusters and nebulae fall near the center of the frame. All eleven are numbered entries in the catalog compiled by 18th century cosmic tourist Charles Messier. Gaining celebrity status with skygazers, M8 (Lagoon), M16 (Eagle), M17 (Omega), and M20 (Trifid) show off the telltale reddish hues of emission nebulae associated with star forming regions. But also eye-catching...

UN peacekeepers in the Congo were drawn into a gun battle between unidentified gunmen and the M23 rebel group today and shot four of the attackers, a UN spokesman said. About 30 unidentified people assaulted an M23 rebel position early today five miles (eight kilometres) from Goma in Congo's North Kivu province, spokesman Martin Nesirky said. The M23 rebels counter-attacked, and as the assailants retreated they fired shots at the UN peacekeepers' post, Nesirky said.

(Reuters) - Eastern Congo's most powerful warlord stands on a hillside, surrounded by heavily armed fighters, and gazes down on the sprawling lakeside city of Goma spread invitingly below him in the distance. ... "The government can't beat us. They have no choice but to negotiate," says the lean, 39-year-old veteran of several revolts in mineral-rich eastern Congo. "We're waiting for the negotiations in Kampala." M23 launched its rebellion in Congo's beautiful but war-torn eastern borderlands more than a year ago. Hundreds of former rebels who had been integrated into the army - veterans, like Makenga, of a previous Tutsi...

Rwanda's president, Paul Kagame, has rejected accusations from Washington that he was supporting a rebel leader and accused war criminal in the Democratic Republic of the Congo by challenging a senior US official to send a drone to kill the wanted man. ... "I told him: 'Assistant secretary of state, you support [the UN peacekeeping force] in the Congo. Such a big force, so much money. Have you failed to use that force to arrest whoever you want to arrest in Congo? Now you are turning to me, you are turning to Rwanda?'" he said. "I said that, since you...

KINSHASA (Reuters) - United Nations attack helicopters hit rebel positions in eastern Congo on Saturday after insurgents gained ground in heavy fighting with government troops, the U.N. said. The clashes to the south of the town Kibumba mean the rebels have advanced to within 30 km (18 miles) of Goma, the closest they have been to North Kivu's provincial capital since a rebellion exploded in the eastern provinces eight months ago. North Kivu governor Julien Paluku said the army retreated to the southern outskirts of the town after M23 rebels - a group of soldiers who mutinied in April -...