The rebels of the March 23 movement resumed arms at the end of 2021, accusing the Congolese authorities of not having respected the peace agreements signed in Kenya.
Le Monde With AFP
The Congolese army accused, on Sunday, June 12, Rwanda of having supported the rebels of the March 23 movement (M23) to carry out new attacks on Sunday in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where violent fights continued in the evening.
The offensive targeted the city of Bunagana, ex-fief of this rebel movement taken up by the Congolese army in 2013, and other localities in the province of North Kivu, on the border with Uganda. In a statement, the Congolese army accused “M23 terrorists supported by artillery and the military of the Rwandan army” of having attacked its positions near Bunagana.
“The objective pursued by Rwanda is to occupy Bunagana to not only suffocate the city of Goma (chief town of North Kivu), but also put pressure on the” Congolese government, said in the press release General Sylvain Ekenge, spokesperson for the military governor of the province, placed in siege by the authorities of Kinshasa.
The attackers were “routed” after losing several of their own, he assured. A Congolese soldier was also killed. Several local and military sources have reported fighting on the outskirts of Bunagana in the evening. An officer declared under the cover of anonymity to AFP that the Congolese soldiers were postponing the rebels on Sunday afternoon and that the fighting continued.
“very complicated situation”
M23 spokesperson Willy Ngoma confirmed to AFP that “very violent” fights continued very close to the city, accusing the force of the UN, the Monusco, of having “shelled” rebel positions three times.
According to Damien Sebusanane, head of a local association of civil society, most of the population fled the center of the Bunagana, an important crossing point for the goods between the Congo and the Uganda.
The army succeeded in the day “to dislodge the enemy and captured some of them,” he said on Sunday evening. But “the situation is very complicated,” he added, reporting an attack on Kavange, just three kilometers from Bunagana.
Rebellion predominantly Tutsi defeated in 2013 by Kinshasa, the M23 took over the arms at the end of 2021, accusing the Congolese authorities of not having respected the peace agreements signed in Kenya between the two belligerent parties after the military defeat of the military defeat rebellion. The government of Kinshasa accuses Rwanda of supporting the M23, which Kigali denies.