Faith Nyasuguta
On Thursday, fighting with heavy weapons resumed in eastern DRC between the M23 rebels and the Congolese army.
This comes after five days of a truce following the decisions of the Luanda summit on November 23.
The summit had settled on a ceasefire between Friday 25 at 6:00 p.m. (4:00 p.m. GMT), followed two days later by the withdrawal of the M23 from the areas conquered for several months in the province of North Kivu.
There had been no withdrawal observed, but the fighting had stopped since Saturday morning between the army and the M23, even if the latter continued to oppose militias, in particular on Tuesday in a village in the Bambo region village, around 70 km north of the provincial capital Goma, where many civilians are believed to have been killed.
It is not far from there that a resumption of fighting between the rebels and the armed forces of the DRC (FARDC) was reported on Thursday, in Kirima, about ten km from the town of Kirizi.
“Since the morning, fighting has resumed between the FARDC and the M23 in Kirima. The rebels crossed the bridge towards Kibirizi after the fighting the day before yesterday in Kishishe. There is panic“, Paul Lutibahwa , the president of the civil society of Bambo said.
A security source, who sought anonymity, accused the M23 rebels of violating the ceasefire and of “continuing to loot and fight”.
“The fighting is violent, we are using heavy artillery” against the M23, a Congolese army officer told AFP, who also gave information on condition of anonymity.
Also questioned by AFP, the military spokesman of the M23, Willy Ngoma, confirmed these fights with the FARDC.
According to Julson Kaniki, head of civil society in Kibirizi, the prospect of the rebels arriving in this town has also caused panic. “People are starting to flee,” he said.
