At least fifteen civilians were killed on Monday March 4 in violent fighting and thousands of people fled before an offensive by rebels of the March 23 Movement (M23) in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a we learned from local sources. According to numerous testimonies from residents, medical sources and administrative authorities contacted by telephone, the M23 launched an offensive Monday on several localities under the control of the Congolese army in the territory of Rutshuru, in North Kivu.
After eight years of dormancy, the M23, a predominantly Tutsi rebellion, took up arms again at the end of 2021 and, with the support of the Rwandan army, seized large swaths of the territories of Rutshuru and Masisi, until to cut, at the beginning of February, all land access routes leading to Goma (the capital of the North Kivu province), except that of the Rwandan border.
While the intensity of clashes has diminished in recent days around Sake, on the western outskirts of Goma, fighting has broken out in several towns and villages about 70 kilometers further north. “Around 4 a.m., the M23 attacked our forces in Kirima,” Maisha Faustin, an administrative official in the area, told Agence France-Presse (AFP), cutting one of the main supply routes between Congolese army bases.
Nyanzale is emptying of its population
In Nyanzale (about 10 kilometers west of Kirima), where several tens of thousands of people had taken refuge in recent months, fleeing the advance of the M23, at least fifteen civilians, including children, died during the fighting while the city was emptied of its population.
“Bombs fell on residents,” Ombeni Gasiga, president of Nyanzale civil society, told AFP. “The entire population is fleeing towards Kikuku [north],” he added, before also leaving the town. “We have just been forced to flee with sick people to save our lives,” said a staff member at a health center in the city. Several sources on site confirmed that at least ten civilians, including young children, died in the explosion of a projectile that fell near a home.
Furthermore, “we received twelve wounded, unfortunately five of them died, including three children,” a health source said on the telephone on condition of anonymity, while heavy gunfire echoed in the background at the end. afternoon. Also on Monday, the European Union, after the condemnations of the United States and France, condemned “the support provided by Rwanda to the M23” and asked Kigali “to immediately withdraw all its military personnel from the DRC”.
