KAMPALA: FARDC and M23 rebels have been fighting in Rutshuru territory, which is in North Kivu Province, Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Civil society there says 14 civilians have been killed and more than 38,000 have been forced to flee their homes because of the fighting.
Fighting between M23 rebels and FARDC soldiers broke out last month after rebels attacked and captured three military positions in Tchanzu, Runyoni, and Ndiza in Rutshuru Territory, about three kilometres from the main border of Uganda-DRC.
In the hills near Uganda’s main border with the Democratic Republic of Congo, a gunfight broke out around midday. Rebels were trying to take over the border, which is three kilometres from the main border.
Rebels, on the other hand, were stopped by FARDC soldiers after about three and a half hours of fighting.
The fighting left four M23 rebels and three FARDC soldiers killed in Murujinga and Mukiharo-Bunagana, and about 10 rebels captured. Seventeen FARDC soldiers were injured.
Rebels agreed to stop fighting earlier this month, but by Sunday evening, most of the refugees who had returned to their homes had fled back to the Kisoro district, where they said there was a lot of crime.
Fighting again resumed on Wednesday this week, and later, FARDC, through Colonel Muhindo Lwanzo, a member of the cabinet of the administrator of the military in Rutshuru, announced that Bugusa, Tchengerero, Cheya, and Mbuzi hills, Bugusa hospital, and the Catholic parish of Kinyamahura, had been recovered from the rebels.
Today, civil society in Rutshuru, through their coordinator, Jean Damascene Baziyaka, claimed that their assessment had captured 14 civilian deaths. Baziyaka says that some of the dead were killed by bullets.
He, however, says that civil society is yet to make an assessment of the injured victims. He also says that the assessment has proved that 37,000 people are currently displaced by fighting, with 37,789 crossing into Uganda in Kisoro district.
He reveals that the victims were killed between last month’s 27 and 30 fighting in several villages in Rutshuru territory. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has quoted nearly 36,000 people who have been displaced as a result of M23 rebels and FARDC fighting.
Fighting also took place on Friday, when rebels tried to move into areas that had already been retaken by the FARDC. The FARDC army reached Tshengerero on the way to Bunagana.
Betrand Bisimwa, the M23 president, and Willy Ngoma, the M23 spokesperson, released a statement on Twitter accusing FARDC of violating the unilateral ceasefire decreed by the M23 by launching a generalised offensive on four fronts.
Without explaining more, Bisimwa and Ngoma said that only dialogue is worth it.
The Fardc has violated the M23’s unilateral cease-fire by launching an offensive across four fronts this morning. People in this area have been trying to stop the accalmie from growing. Our forces have put an end to that.Seul le dialogue vaut, “dit Bisimwa on Twitter.
The FARDC violated the unilateral ceasefire decreed by the M23 by launching a generalised offensive on four fronts this morning. Our forces have just defeated this attempt to disrupt the calm that was gradually settling in this area. The only dialogue is worth it, “says Bisimwa on Twitter.