DAKAR (Reuters) – Renewed fighting in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) between the government army and the M23 rebel movement has forced more than 72,000 people to flee in a week, the United Nations said on Friday. united.
The M23, known as the “March 23 Movement”, is a former Tutsi rebellion in the eastern province of North Kivu defeated in 2013 by the DRC army following nearly two years of insurrection.
Clashes with loyalist forces in North Kivu have resumed for several months and are causing population displacements.
Heavy fighting erupted less than 20 kilometers from Goma, the main eastern city, and rebels briefly took control of a military base.
Of the 72,000 people who fled, around 7,000 are believed to have fled to neighboring Uganda, the UN Refugee Agency said in a statement. Others headed for Goma or found shelter in shelters built last year for people who fled the eruption of the Nyiragongo volcano near Goma.
Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has been plagued by near-permanent conflict since 1996, when armies from Rwanda and other neighboring states entered the country in pursuit of Hutu militiamen who had participated in the Rwandan genocide. from 1994.
The UN has identified 5.6 million displaced people in the country, including at least 1.9 million in North Kivu.
(Report Aaron Ross, French version Lou Phily)
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