Fresh confrontations between M23 rebels and pro-government armed factions along multiple fronts in eastern DR Congo, near the crucial city of Goma, have compelled another wave of people to flee their residences, as reported by witnesses on Thursday.
Last month, fighting resumed between the Tutsi-led rebels on one side and Congolese troops, along with pro-state militia fighters on the other, shattering several months of relative calm in the volatile region.
On Wednesday, residents evacuated several villages in the Kilolirwe area, located a few dozen kilometers from the capital of North Kivu province, Goma.
Civil society group members reported that more than 3,000 displaced individuals reached the town of Sake late on Wednesday evening.
Sake, situated 30 kilometers (20 miles) from Goma, is regarded as the last line of defense for the city.
“We had just got back to our villages, but then we had to flee again,” said Alice, a mother interviewed by telephone from Goma. “We don’t know where to sleep”.
The M23, purportedly supported by Rwanda, seized significant portions of territory in North Kivu following the commencement of a campaign in late 2021.
The offensive has triggered a widespread humanitarian crisis, displacing over one million people from their residences.
United Nations figures indicate that an additional 200,000 people have been forced to flee their homes since the resumption of fighting last month.
Local traditional chief Primo Bauma informed media that the recently displaced individuals have no place to seek shelter.
He added that their presence in Sake is causing panic among residents, who fear the approach of M23 fighters.
On the previous Friday, UN peacekeepers and the Congolese army declared a collaborative operation to protect both Sake and Goma from a potential advance by M23.
The announcement followed the rebels’ capture of the strategic town of Kitshanga in late October, north of Sake, sparking concerns that they might advance further south.
Additional clashes have taken place in the neighboring regions of Rutshuru and Nyiragongo in recent days, as reported by multiple sources.
Militias have been a longstanding issue in the volatile eastern Democratic Republic of Congo for decades, a legacy of regional wars that escalated in the 1990s and 2000s.
Numerous Western nations, such as the United States and France, have asserted that Rwanda supports the M23, a claim consistently denied by Kigali.