Rwanda-backed rebels from the M23 group recently entered Bukabu, the capital of the Southern Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The M23 fighter planes entered the city's Kajingi and Bhagira zones and were moving forward towards the city centre of around 1 million people late Friday. The gunfire rang, but the rebels encountered little resistance. Shops and businesses were closed for a long time, and scared civilians fled.
Bukab previously fell into a soldier who abandoned the Congolese army in 2004, and the capture of the city effectively gave him full control of the M23s in the Kivu Lake area. Its capture represents an unprecedented expansion of territory under the control of the M23 since the latest rebellion began in 2022, further blowing the authority of Kinshasa in the eastern part of the country.
Two residents of Baghira, in the north of Bukabu, saw rebels on the streets and said they had seen no signs of a fight.
“Their uniforms were different. We were prepared for their arrival from the daytime… farc [army soldiers] He had left. There were no conflicts,” said resident Helen.
A few hours ago, rebels seized the airport in Kavum town where Congolese forces were located. Congolese Army spokesman Sylvain Ekenge said the troops were pulled back after the airport seizure.
He did not say where they retreated, but the Congolese and Burundi troops left Seio, the main military camp in Bukabu during the day, two residents and one UN source said .
Last month, rebels took Goma, the capital of the North Kivu province, with similar lightning strikes.
On Thursday, the group acquired the Kabamba and Katana commercial centres as they proceeded south along N2 road.
Airport employees said that it was empty and in fact closed as the Congolese forces removed the aircraft and other equipment. Armies were seen returning to the army, on bikes loaded with mattresses and other belongings.
Corneil Nanga, head of the Congo River Alliance, a coalition of rebel groups, including the M23, said the militia had been attacked and defended themselves.
Congolese President Felix Tssisekedi traveled to Germany on Friday to attend a security conference in Munich, seeking international support to end the conflict in the Eastern DRC.
“Of course, this could lead to ripples in the region,” he warned the meeting, reiterating his call for Rwanda to take responsibility for its role in the conflict. “It's up to the international community to prevent this conflict from spreading.”
He is not attending Addis Ababa, the annual African Union Summit this weekend, the capital of Ethiopia.
The fighting in the Eastern DRC has been raging over the past three years, but the recent surge in violence has spurred international calls for elimination and exacerbated the already tragic humanitarian situation. The fighting destroyed 70,000 emergency shelters around Goma and Minova in the Southern Kivu, leaving 350,000 internally evacuated people without shelter. According to the United Nations.
M23 is a series of Chucho-led rebellion groups that have been operating in the mineral-rich Eastern DRC, as the 2003 contract was intended to end the war that killed six million people primarily from hunger and disease. It's the latest. This group is supported by Rwanda. This says that his main concern is eradicating fighter jets related to the 1994 genocide. The Congolese government and several UN reports say that Rwanda actually extracts this group and then uses it as a means of exporting valuable minerals for use in products such as mobile phones.
The battle was drawn by the troops of many countries from within and outside the continent, including those that contributed to the UN peacekeeping mission. Canada announced this week that it had withdrawn military personnel from its troops. “Increasingly dangerous security conditions” With sesame seeds.
On Thursday, the popular Congolese singer was killed in the city while making a music video. The body of Delphine Katenbo Vinny Wasiki, commonly known by his stage name Delcat Idengo, was found along a road near the Kiriziwe district of North Goma in the afternoon, and witnesses were shot in the head He later said he died there.
Social media images show Vinny Wasiki's body lying on the ground wearing military pants for video shoot.
Vinywasiki, who frequently criticized conflicts and human rights abuses in the DRC, was one of hundreds of prisoners who broke out from a prison in Goma last month while advancing M23. He was jailed and awaited trial for allegedly incited people to arm themselves and oust UN peacekeepers out of the country.
The circumstances surrounding the singer's death are unknown. Patrick Muyaya, a spokesman for the DRC government, condemned the killing. “No fear, no fear, no even a modest weapon against innocent civilians can wipe out the flames of sesame and nationwide resistance.” He wrote on x.
Reuters and the Agency France Press contributed to this report
