North-Kivu: a humanitarian mission set up to assist displaced people in Rutsuru
The Congolese government decided this weekend to urgently send a humanitarian mission to provide assistance to populations displaced following the fighting between the FARDC (Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo) and the M23 in the territory of Rutshuru in the province of North Kivu in eastern DRC. It was after an extended meeting of the Superior Council of Defense led by Félix Tshisekedi, President of the Republic. In all, 186,000 people have fled their homes since last week, noted the office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs OCHA. INFO SOS Médias Burundi
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) indicates that the continued fighting continues to lead to population movements and other human rights violations in the localities of Rubare, Kalengera, Kako, Rangira and Ntamugenga, still in the territory of Rutshuru where M23 and FARDC escalated clashes.
“In Kanyaruchinya, on the outskirts of the city of Goma in the town center of North Kivu province, families have been arriving there since October 27”, noted a team of humanitarian organizations visiting to immerse themselves of the situation.
At least 1,500 people have arrived from Rutshuru since October 21, says OCHA.
According to the same organization, since the resumption of clashes, nearly 40,000 people have been newly displaced in Rutshuru territory. At least 12,000 others crossed the border into Uganda.
The UN agency reports that during clashes last week, hostilities between the Congolese army and the M23 caused the displacement of at least 186,000 people.
At least 24 spontaneous sites have been created in the neighboring territory of Nyiragongo since March 2022, to house nearly 22,000 displaced people.
For its part, the civil society in the DRC is considering a march. It plans to protest against the deterioration of the security situation in North Kivu. It accuses Rwanda, like Congolese authorities, of being the source of the misfortune of the Congolese.
“Considering that such actions seriously undermine peace and international security and undermine DRC’s efforts to consolidate good neighbourliness, peace, security, cooperation, integration and development in the region of the Great Lakes, we firmly reject false accusations of the Rwandan government tending to link its multiple attacks and terrorist acts on the Congolese soil to a certain imaginary threat which reportedly weighs on Kinyarwanda speaking citizens, and to the conspiratorial rhetoric on a certain collusion, once again imaginary between the FARDC and Rwandan FDLR rebels”, says a press release from the civil society made public this Sunday.
The M23 continues to gain ground in several localities of Rutshuru territory with the capture of the towns of Kiwanja and Rutshuru-Centre last Saturday.
In two press releases, the Rwandan government rejected accusations made by Congolese authorities, which it described as “false”.
In a tweet, President Paul Kagame said on Monday that he had held talks with the UN Secretary-General on ways and means to end the escalation of the situation in eastern Congo. The Rwandan President remains convinced that the Luanda (Angola) and Nairobi (Kenya) processes and other international efforts remain the only way to find a solution to the crisis prevailing in the east of the vast Central African country. .
“We just need to commit to implementing them”, he said.
