Published on: 06/12/2022 – 19:14
According to the Congolese army, fierce fighting broke out in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Sunday (June 12) after another attack by M23 rebels.
When the Belgian royal couple arrived in Bukavu from Lubumbashi on Sunday morning to meet the doctor Denis MukwegeNew violent clashes between the Congolese army and the M23 rebellion are reported in North Kivu, on the Ugandan border.
Troops from the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC) were attacked by the M23 in Bunagana, a former stronghold of the rebel movement that was taken over by the Congolese army in 2013, on the border with Uganda and in the neighboring town of Tshengerero, according to Colonel Muhindi Lwanzo, local military administrator.
An army officer told AFP on condition of anonymity that Congolese soldiers repulsed the rebels on Sunday afternoon and that fighting continued on the Bunagana road.
According to Damien Sebusanane, head of a local civil society group, most of the population fled the rebel-held center of the city, a key transit point for goods between Congo and Uganda. The army would have responded in particular with tanks.
Tensions with neighboring Rwanda have been rising since M23 attacks multiplied in the east of the country. On June 5, the President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Felix Tshisekedi said he had “no doubt” about Rwanda’s support for the rebels came to “attack” his country and wanted the rebel group’s arsenal as proof, a sign he says of Rwanda’s complicity, which Kigali denies. According to the DRC, the use of long-range weapons by the rebels could show Rwandan support.
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(With AFP)