Goma : nearly 25,000 residents driven out of their home

About 25,000 residents of various localities in the Bambo groupment in the Rutshuru territory have been hunted from their home since last week. It is in the province of North Kivu in the east of the Congo. Administration officials and residents accuse the M23 of having dislodged them in order to install other people, unknown to the region. An M23 spokesperson says that it was the local militias maintained by the Congolese authorities who have removed these inhabitants.

INFO SOS Médias Burundi

Local authorities speak of a dramatic situation. It started since since last week, according to these authorities.

“These families were driven out by rebels of the M23 which operate in the area. They were forced to abandon their homes. The rebels installed other people who are not known by the local population,” accused Isaac Kibira, delegate official of the deputy governor of provinces in the Bambo groupment.

In an interview with SOS Médias Burundi, Mr. Kibira said on Monday that the first inhabitants to have been expelled occupied the villages that touch on the main road.

“People have been summoned to close their homes and get out without asking questions,” he said.

Residents criticize M23 rebels for having abused them.

“Me, I was slapped for asking only where I should head. I tried to resist but two men jumped on me like rabid animals. That’s how I ended up giving up my house “, tetifies a father who found refuge in a public school.

According to local sources, several thousand residents have been accelerated in local schools and churches. But there are also some who have managed in forests, bushes and mountains.

Civilians killed

At least 9 civilians were killed, according to the civil society. Thierry Abisi, actor of the local civil society said that these people were killed by the rebels of the M23 last Saturday, when they forced residents to leave their homes. The villages that have emptied their occupants are controlled by the M23, according to local administration officials. Thierry Abisi calls on Congolese authorities to “do everything to free up the areas occupied by the rebels”.

A head of cleaning who is hosted in a public school said to SOS Médias Burundi that “we fear for our very security here in this place that received us”.

The M23 rejects allegations

M23’s political spokesperson Lawrence Kanyuka denied all of these allegations.

“We can never be involved in such acts. Our soldiers are disciplined and master their mission to protect the population. We are the Saviors of the Congolese people,” he said in a telephone interview with SOS Médias Burundi.

Mr. Kanyuka accused the local militias maintained by the Congolese authorities of being at the origin of these massive displacements of the population insisting that “with us, we protect civilians, the people are king”.

Heir Gashegu Habimana, a spokesperson for a coalition of local militias criticized the M23 of “wanting to install Rwandans on our own soil”. “But they forget that it is with us. We will fight them to the last drop of blood of our young resistance fighters,” he insisted.

The M23 is a former Tutsi rebellion which took over the arms at the end of 2021, reproaching Congolese authorities for not having respected their commitments on the reintegration of its fighters. Since mid June 2022, it has recovered several areas from the province of North Kivu, including the city of Bunagana, border with Uganda where it has installed its headquarters.

The Congolese authorities remain convinced that it has support from Rwanda, which the Rwandan government continues to sweep away from the hand.

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Residents fleeing Shasha to Sake in North Kivu, February 6, 2024 (SOS Médias Burundi)