The chaotic scenes take place in the Bukavu in the eastern democratic Republic of Congo, as the M23 Rebel Group continues its offensive in the region.
On Saturday, there were reports in the city on sporadic shotgun and widespread robbery, including in the world food depot, with residents who took refuge in their homes.
The following is conflicting reports on whether the rebels supported from Rwanda entered the key city of Bukava after progressing in the region. On Friday, the M23 fighters seized Kavuma Airport, north of Bukavu.
The UN and the European Union expressed alarm for worse conflict.
The threat of Mayor Uganda to attack the city in Congo has caused fears that the conflict could break into the broader regional war.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said at the African Union’s summit on Saturday that regional escalation “at all costs” must be avoided and that there was no “military solution”.
“Both sovereignty and territorial integrity of the DRC must be respected,” Guterres continued.
The European Union said it was “urgent” given all the possibilities after the news from Bukavu.
“The constant violation of the territorial integrity of the DRC will not go without an answer,” he warned. “
The Congoic Government accuses Rwanda of sowing chaos in the region in order to benefit from its natural resources – a claim that Ruand refused.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been forced from their homes in recent weeks as a result of the progress of the rebels.
On Saturday, the streets were abandoned as the residents hid in their homes.
One woman in Bukavu said that the people from the BBC avoided going outside while the shooting rang in the city, and the young men robbed and destroyed the shops.
“I have enough food only for three days. As a woman, it’s hard for me to go out because I could be raped [by the looters or the armed groups]. We feel the abandonment of power. “
The float included storage of the World Food Program in Bukavu, which included 6,800 metric tons of food, said a spokesman for the UN Assistance Agency for the Reuters news agency.
Claude Kaling said that theft of stock would deepen the difficulties that they face. The agency has been suspending its activities for weeks for worse security situation.
There were conflicting reports about whether the M23 fighters entered Bukava, according to the group, and in what extent.
Two inhabitants of the northern suburb of Bukava in Bagiri said the rebels saw on the streets and were not a sign of the fight.
However, on Saturday, he said to Reuters that the source of M23, two officers of the Congolian Army and more Bukavu residents, said to Reuters that the rebels had not yet entered the city center.
Taking Bukavu, a city estimated to have an urban population of more than one million people, would be an unprecedented spread of territory under the control of the M23 from the latest rebellion in 2022.
The Bukava, which borders Rwanda, is located on the southern tip of Lake Kivo and is an important transit point for a local mineral trade.
Meanwhile, on Saturday, the head of Uganda’s defense forces, General Muhozi Kainerugaba, said that in the post on the X attack the City of Bunia, also in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, unless “all forces” surrendered their weapons there within 24 the clock ignited the fear of a wider conflict.
The threat of Kainerugaba, whose father is President Uganda, adds to fear that the region risks to a wider war reminiscent of conflicts in the 1990s and 2000s in which they killed millions.
The Ugandana army of 2021 supported the Congole Army in the fight against Islamist militants in the East, but say the UN experts say Uganda also supported the M23 group.
