adminon suspicion of running an illegal military operation, police said yesterday.
The group was arrested in South Africa’s northern Limpopo province after an investigation by a crime intelligence unit, police said, without providing further details.
A separate law enforcement official said they were members of the M23 rebels that have carved out a fiefdom in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo’s North Kivu province, dragging the region back into war and displacing an estimated half a million people.
The M23 rebels, who launched their offensive after accusing President Joseph Kabila of reneging on the terms of a March 2009 peace agreement, have since broadened their goals to include removal of Kabila and “liberation” of the entire DRC.
The 19 are expected to appear in a court in Pretoria to face a charge under South Africa’s Foreign Military Assistance act, police said in a statement. — Reuters
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