After a day of calm, fighting resumed on Sunday in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo between the Congolese army and M23 rebels, according to security and local sources who speak of violent clashes.
“Since this morning the fighting has been raging” in the hills of the Kibumba sector, a resident said by telephone. The locality of Kibumba, which the army and the rebels are fighting over, has for several days marked a front line about twenty kilometers north of the capital of the province of North Kivu, Goma.
“The situation is not good in Kibumba, three officers including a colonel have just been injured in the fighting,” said a security source on condition of anonymity.
Twenty years ago to the day, on November 20, 2012, the M23 seized the city of Goma, which it occupied for ten days before withdrawing and being defeated the following year. The Tutsi movement took up arms again at the end of last year and has since extended its territory, despite calls to cease fire.
Other fighting is reported in another sector, further north-east of Goma, towards Ishasha, a border town with Uganda.
According to Jean Bosco Bahati, a local civil society leader, the rebels have taken over several villages in the Katwiguru region, some 35 km from Ishasha. “The population is in disarray,” he testified.
“The M23s have just entered Katwiguru, they are at the market, the churches have been forced to suspend their programs,” said a resident. According to him, residents are fleeing, others are still resisting and the army has fallen back 15 km away”.
“We were at church for worship and the M23 came in firing a lot of shots,” a pastor confirmed in Katwiguru.
The resurgence of the M23 has caused renewed tension between the DRC and Rwanda, accused of supporting this rebellion. Kigali contests, accusing in return Kinshasa of collusion with Rwandan Hutu rebels established in the DRC since the genocide of the Tutsi in 1994 in Rwanda.
Several diplomatic initiatives have been launched to try to overcome the crisis. Kenyan President William Ruto is due to meet in Kinshasa on Monday with his Congolese counterpart Felix Tshisekedi.