Rebels supported in Eastern Congo supported in Rwanda while residents flee by thousands
Panika went through the second largest city of Eastern Kong on Saturday, while the residents fled thousands, trying to escape from the progress of the rebels supported by Rwanda.
The morning after the M23 fighters entered the periphery of Bukava-Grad of about 1.3 million people lying 200 kilometers south of Gom who trembled rebels-the streets flooded the inhabitants trying to leave and capture the flour sacks with what would could find. Later that day, it was placed in silence as residents and owners of companies advocated for what follows.
Most people were waiting in their home, shocked as the corpses were burned down on the streets – a victim of a robbery that filled the vacuum left by Congoon soldiers before leaving their posts.
“They lit a ammunition they could not bring with them,” said Alain Iragi, among the inhabitants who fled Saturday in search of security.
Reports and videos on social networks have shown that the region factories have been robbed and closed empties while electricity remained on the communication lines open at most places.
“It’s a shame. Some citizens have become a victim of stray bullets. Even some soldiers who are still present in the city are massively involved in these robbery cases,” said the 25-year-old neighborhood resident who was robbed for Associated Press.
The Congo River Union, a coalition of rebel groups that includes M23, blamed the Congole troops and their allies from the local militia and neighboring Burundi for Bukavu disorder.
“We invite the population to remain under the control of their city and do not surrender to panic,” said Lawrence Kanyuk, a spokesman for the Alliance, in a statement on Saturday.
Jugward Pust after seizing Goma
The M23, a rebel group supported by about 4,000 soldiers from neighboring Rwanda, is the most prominent of more than 100 who are advocated by control over the East of the rich minerals of Kong.
Congoic authorities and international observers accused him of sexual violence, forcibly recruitment and abstract. The M23 -the spread of the south covers more territories than the rebels had previously seized and represented an unprecedented challenge to the Central Government in Kinshasi.
The leaders from Eastern and South Africa called for a direct truce in Eastern Congo, where the rebels threaten to overthrow the Congolian government. The M23 rebels supported in Rwanda took over the cities near the capital of Kong, which is contrary to the president of the country with the officials of Rwanda and other leaders.
The rebellion killed nearly 3000 people in the eastern Congo and stranded hundreds of thousands of displaced. At least 350,000 internally displaced people are without a shelter, the UN -AI authorities said.
The rebels also claimed on Friday that they seized another airport in the region, in the town of Kavuma outside Bukavu.
AP could not confirm who controlled the strategically important airport, used by Congole forces to re -supply the troops and humanitarian groups used to import assistance. The Congo River Alliance said on Saturday that M23 had taken control of the airport to prevent congrol forces to trigger air attacks against civilians.
Government officials and local civil society leaders did not immediately comment, although the Ministry of Communications in Congo said that the rebels had violated agreements on the termination of fire and attacked the Congolian troops that worked to avoid the urban war and the violence in Bukavu.
Reports of robbery and clutter come the day after the inhabitants said APs that the soldiers in the coffee – the city of the airport north of Bukavu – left their positions to head to the city. The chain of events mirrors what appeared in leadership last month until grabbing the Goma M23. Despite its greatness and financing, the Kong’s army has long been interfering with disadvantages in training and coordination and recurrent corruption reports.
The conflict of worry could expand
International leaders are expected to discuss the conflict at the African Union’s summit this weekend in Ethiopia, because Congo Felix Tshishearded President still prays with the international community to intervene to restrain the rebels and the Black list of “Rwanda Rwanda to Support. Tshiseekeddi was not on the summit.
African leaders and international community have reluctant to take decisive measures against M23 or Rwanda.
In Ads Ababi on Saturday, Secretary -General of UN António Guterres warned of a conflict that was moving into a regional conflict.
“Regional escalation must be avoided at all costs,” Guterres said of the African Union’s summit. “Sovereignty and territorial integrity [Congo] must be respected. “
Although Guterres said that the conflict’s solution is in Africa, African leaders disagree on how to resolve a conflict in a way that meets the warring parties.
Regional tensions
Despite the universal calls to the interruption of the fire, the rebellion is the inflammation of historical tension in the Great Lakes region, which includes Congo, Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda.
The troops from Burundi and the development community of South Africa are arranged in support of Congolian forces. Uganda troops have been fighting other rebel groups in other regions in Eastern Congo, where civilians have been reported in recent months.
In Itura, hundreds of kilometers north of the place where the M23 on the march, the Uganda troops of hunting are members of Islamist Allied Democratic forces.
The fighting on Saturday risked a strong escalation. Muhozi Kainerugaba, Chief Military Commander Uganda, told all the armed forces in the province’s capital that they had 24 hours to surrender and warned that it would soon be under the control of the Uganne Army.
“If they do not, we will consider them enemies and attack them,” Kainerugaba said in a post on X, without identifying other forces.
