(Goma) Fighting broke out on Friday between fighters from a local armed group, allied with the Congolese army, and M23 rebels in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where a “humanitarian truce” was supposed to hold until July 19, according to concordant sources.
Clashes broke out Friday morning in Nyange and several surrounding towns, about 70 km northwest of Goma, the capital of North Kivu, “following an attack by the Wazalendo (armed groups associated with the Congolese army) against the M23,” Justin Hakiza, a resident of this town in the Masisi territory, told AFP.
The spokesman for a “nyatura” militia (a predominantly Hutu armed group) in the area confirmed the clashes.
“The enemy attacked us in Nyange. We had dislodged the rebels in Bibwe yesterday, and they wanted to take another hill this morning,” which provoked these clashes, Safari Bindu, spokesman for the armed group ANCDH (Alliance of Congolese Nationalists for the Defense of Human Rights), told AFP.
He added that “the fighting continues in Karumu, Luhanga and Bweru”, where his troops are engaged, confirming the statements of residents of the region contacted by AFP from Goma.
In a statement released Thursday, Lieutenant Colonel Guillaume Ndjike, spokesman for the Congolese army in North Kivu, accused the Rwandan army of having “launched simultaneous attacks […] on the positions of the Armed Forces of the DRC and its partners located in the villages of Nyange and Mpati”.
On July 5, the United States announced the acceptance of a two-week “humanitarian truce” in the conflict between Congolese government forces and their allies on the one hand and the M23 rebellion and the Rwandan army on the other.
“The humanitarian situation in North Kivu is dire, with nearly 3 million people displaced,” the White House National Security Council deplored in a statement.
“The humanitarian truce […] “urges parties to the conflict to silence their guns, allow the voluntary return of displaced persons and provide humanitarian personnel with unhindered access to vulnerable populations,” the statement said.
Since late 2021, the M23 (“March 23 Movement”), supported by units of the Rwandan army, has seized large swathes of territory in North Kivu, going so far as to almost completely encircle the provincial capital, Goma.
In late June, the M23 and the Rwandan army seized several towns in the Lubero territory in northern North Kivu, taking advantage of the collapse of the Congolese army and its auxiliary militias. In the following days, nearly 50 soldiers were sentenced to death for “fleeing before the enemy.” In March, Kinshasa decided to lift the moratorium on the execution of the death penalty that had been in place since 2003.