Goma (agencies)
After 10 days of calm, battles raged yesterday in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, as eyewitnesses reported, shortly after the end of the general elections that began on Wednesday.
Residents of Kipariso, about 50 kilometers northwest of Goma, the capital of North Kivu, said that the sound of violent clashes was heard in the area. The clashes are taking place between the Congolese army and two foreign private military entities on the one hand, and the rebels of the “March 23 Movement.”
After resuming fighting at the end of 2021 and being defeated by the Congolese army, the rebel movement seized vast areas in Rutshuru and Masisi in the south of North Kivu province.
On December 11, less than 10 days before the elections, while the rebels tightened their siege of Goma and its population of more than one million people and 500,000 displaced people, the United States welcomed a ceasefire between the parties to the conflict in the east.
The American statement came less than 48 hours after the first air strikes launched by the Congolese army on rebel positions, as appeared in a video clip of the operation.
Neither Congolese nor Rwandan authorities confirmed this ceasefire for days, but on the ground around Goma, the fighting stopped.
With the end of the elections, “the situation became worse,” said Telesphore Mithundeke, civil society rapporteur in the Masisi region, where the fighting is taking place.
He pointed out that as of Thursday evening, the “March 23” movement had regained several sites, including sites just 30 kilometers west of Goma.
After enumerating the names of towns in Masisi, he said, “All these towns have been emptied of their residents,” stressing that they are “virtually desolate.”
The resumption of fighting comes as the last units of the East African Forces withdrew from the country after Kinshasa refused to renew its mandate, considering it ineffective.
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