Congolese cross the deserted market as they flee after Congolese soldiers and rebel fighters battled for hours over the eastern Congolese town of Sake, 27 kilometers (17 miles) west of Goma, Thursday Nov. 22, 2012. Thousands fled the M23 controlled town as the militants seeking to overthrow the government vowed to push forward despite mounting international pressure. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
Congolese cross the deserted market as they flee after Congolese soldiers and rebel fighters battled for hours over the eastern Congolese town of Sake, 27 kilometers (17 miles) west of Goma, Thursday Nov. 22, 2012. Thousands fled the M23 controlled town as the militants seeking to overthrow the government vowed to push forward despite mounting international pressure. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
Congolese flee after Congolese soldiers and rebel fighters battled for hours over the eastern Congolese town of Sake, 27 kilometers (17 miles) west of Goma, Thursday, Nov. 22, 2012. Thousands fled the M23 controlled town as the militants seeking to overthrow the government vowed to push forward despite mounting international pressure. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
Congolese M23 rebel soldiers are seen on the road to Rushuru near Buhumba some 25 kilometers (16 miles) north of Goma, Thursday, Nov. 22, 2012. Rebel spokesman Lt. Col. Vianney Kazarama vowed Thursday that the fighters would press forward toward seizing the strategic eastern town of Bukavu, which would mark the biggest gain in rebel territory in nearly a decade if it were to fall. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
The body of a Congolese army soldier is seen in a ditch on the road to Rushuru in Buhumba some 25 kilometers (16 miles) north of Goma, Thursday, Nov. 22, 2012. M23 Rebel spokesman Lt. Col. Vianney Kazarama vowed Thursday that the fighters would press forward toward seizing the strategic eastern town of Bukavu, which would mark the biggest gain in rebel territory in nearly a decade if it were to fall. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
Congolese women run after Congolese soldiers and rebel fighters battled for hours over the eastern Congolese town of Sake , 27 kilometers (17 miles) west of Goma, Thursday, Nov. 22, 2012. The woman in orange only identified as Mamou, said she lost her husband to a fatal wound to the head from incoming mortar round. Thousands fled the M23 controlled town as the militants seeking to overthrow the government vowed to push forward despite mounting international pressure. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
GOMA, Congo (AP) ? Congo's president has suspended the chief of staff of its army, following the publication of a United Nations Group of Experts report which alleges that Gen. Gabriel Amisi has overseen a criminal network selling arms to rebels in the country's troubled east.
The firing of the general comes after the Congolese military was handed a humiliating defeat this week, when an eight-month-old rebel group seized the major eastern city of Goma, and then pushed onwards to the town of Sake which they took after a four-hour firefight.
On Friday, platoons of rebels were making their way across the hills from Sake to the next major town of Minova, where the Congolese army was believed to be regrouping.
Tens of thousands of civilians could be seen fleeing along the road to Goma, carrying mattresses and cooking pots on their heads, and babies on their backs. On Friday Sake was nearly deserted. A lone father returned to his empty house. He had fled on Thursday when the shooting erupted, but lost track of his four children in the scramble to get out of town. The youngest are just 2 and 4 years old, he said.
"We heard shots from the hills," said Timothe Mashamba. "We fled, but now I have returned. I lost my four children when we fled and haven't found them. I am waiting for them here. I can't leave. They won't know where to find me."
Congo's troubled east has been plagued by decades of violence, and the latest rebellion is a reincarnation of a previous conflict. The rebel group that took Goma dubs itself the M23, a reference to the March 23, 2009 peace deal that paved the way for fighters from a now-defunct rebel group to join the army. Charging that the peace accord was not implemented, soldiers defected from the Congo army in April to form the M23. Both the M23 and the previous rebel group, known as the CNDP, are widely believed to be backed by neighboring Rwanda, which has fought two wars against its much-larger neighbor.
Numerous reports by the United Nations Group of Experts have shown the extent of Rwandan infiltration in the rebel groups based in Congo, as well as in Congo's armed forces, but it wasn't until the release of the most recent findings that Congo took decisive action.
A statement released by the Office of Congo's' President Joseph Kabila said that the U.N. report published on Nov. 21 made clear that Amisi's behavior was contrary to the rules of military behavior. "The President of the Republic has decided to suspend him immediately of all his functions, while an investigation is ongoing," the statement said.
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Associated Press writer Saleh Mwanamilongo in Washington contributed to this report.
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