Goma – Democratic Republic of Congo soldiers fought M23 militiamen on several fronts in the east of the country on Wednesday, military and local officials said, in the latest violence to hit the troubled region.
Fighting took place in the Kibumba area of eastern North Kivu province, about 20km (12 miles) north of the provincial capital Goma, said two military officers who declined to be named.
Another officer, who also requested anonymity, said a critical highway running to Goma had been cut off by the clashes. An AFP correspondent confirmed the highway was blocked.
Elsewhere in North Kivu, a local administrative official said soldiers had faced off against M23 fighters in Rutshuru territory, near the Ugandan border.
The M23 is one of more than 120 armed groups which roam eastern DRC – a legacy of regional wars more than two decades ago.
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Also known as the March 23 Movement, it is primarily a Congolese Tutsi group that was crushed in 2013 after launching a rebellion.
But it resumed fighting this year, accusing the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo of having failed to respect a 2009 agreement under which its fighters were to be incorporated into the army.
On Wednesday, the UN’s humanitarian agency OCHA said that recent clashes between the army and M23 had displaced about 10,000 people near Goma, and about 26 000 people in Rutshuru territory.
The latest clashes follow fighting that erupted north of Goma on Tuesday, which some blamed on the M23.
Rwanda’s army also said on Monday that rockets from Congolese armed forces had struck areas inside Rwandan territory, injuring civilians, and called for an investigation.
The Democratic Republic of Congo has regularly accused Rwanda of carrying out incursions into its territory and of backing armed groups there. Many in the country suspect that Rwanda continues to back M23.
Since the mass arrival in the vast central African nation of Rwandan Hutus accused of slaughtering Tutsis during the 1994 Rwanda genocide, relations between the neighbours have been strained.
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Source: AFP
Picture: Unsplash
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