Since the resumption of confrontations with the Congolese army in the province of North Kivu, 50,000 people have fled the progress of the insurgents of the March 23 movement.
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The camp emptied in a few hours. The 2,100 families, refugees in Rumangabo, in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), fled on Sunday, October 30, the fights between the Congolese army and the insurgents of the Movement of March 23 (M23), a rebellion to Dominant Tutsi supported by Rwanda, according to the authorities of Kinshasa.
Arrived a few months ago, Gustave thought it was safe in this village 45 km north of Goma, the capital of North Kivu. Like others, the cultivator left his village because of the war and built a makeshift shelter at the entrance to the Virunga park, hoping to benefit from the protection of the reserve guards in the event of an attack on the M23. But, since the late October assault in Rumangabo, the forties and his relatives had to flee again.
“Even if the situation remains volatile, the area went under the control of the rebels”, assured Sunday Karabuka, the president of the local civil society – a group of citizen associations. The armed group, which launched a new offensive on October 20, now controls Rutshuru, the second city in the North Kivu province as well as the neighboring city of Kiwanja, according to Willy Ngoma, the military spokesperson for the rebels.
Humanitarian corridor
While it was defeated in 2013, the M23 took up arms in December 2021 and has since multiplied the attacks in the east of the DRC. But, this time, the advance of the rebels is rapid and causes panic in the territory of Rutshuru. No less than 50,000 people have been moved by fighting in the last eleven days, according to the United Nations General Secretariat, and ten deaths have been recorded. The NGO Doctors Sans Frontières (MSF) requires a humanitarian corridor to evacuate civilians and injured.
“Salt and flour are increasingly rare on the markets,” says Justin Komayombi, the head of a customary authority in Kisigari who is worried about agricultural shortages. “The few still accessible fields are not enough to feed the whole population,” he continues. According to a World Food Program report (PAM) published in August, 94 % of households in the Rutshuru territory are insecure.
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