clashes between the army and the M23 sow terror in the east of the country

Germain, 6, and Isaac, 7, were friends. A bomb fell in the courtyard of their school in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) during fighting between the army and rebels of the March 23 Movement (M23). They died torn to pieces, victims of a conflict that is spreading panic and terror in the region. The two children went to Saint-Gilbert school in Biruma, about 50 km north of Goma, halfway between the capital of North Kivu and Bunagana, a trading center on the Ugandan border. seized by the M23 rebels on Monday 13 June.

For Friday’s bombardment of Germain and Isaac’s school in Rutshuru territory, the Congolese army accused Rwanda of being responsible for what it called ” war crime “. For the capture of Bunagana, she accused the same country of“invasion” from Congolese territory, again asserting that the Kigali army was fighting alongside the rebels. What Rwanda denies. On Tuesday evening, the Congolese government raised its voice, “condemning the participation of the Rwandan authorities in supporting, financing and arming this rebellion” and promising to defend “every centimeter” of its territory.

“We are tired of war. May they give us peace so that my other eight children can live and grow! », implores Sifa, 29, Isaac’s mother, sitting in front of her house. Her husband, Bigego, does not know his exact age but believes he was “maybe 30 years old when the M23 was here in 2013”, which would make him 40 today. A predominantly Tutsi rebellion born in 2012, the M23 briefly occupied Goma before being defeated in 2013 by the DRC Armed Forces (FARDC) and UN peacekeepers. He took up arms again at the end of 2021, accusing the Congolese authorities of not having respected an agreement for the demobilization and reintegration of his fighters.

“We live with fear in our stomachs”

Joseph Nziyunvira, Germain’s father, asks that “The developed countries help the Congo, so that justice is done and the culprit is punished”. He accuses Rwanda, even if, he admits, it is not “neither a politician nor a soldier”. “I am a farmerhe said. But now, my son was suddenly killed. And we are still afraid because the fighting continues. » Not far from his house, in the middle of the banana trees, the graves of the two children have been dug, flowers planted. The bodies of the little boys were so damaged that their families wanted to bury them immediately. “But we couldn’t go to the cemetery because of the security conditions”explain their parents.

Since this bombardment, the population has lived in terror. “The inhabitants sleep outside, for three days there was no school, we live with fear in our stomachs”, says Floribert Hakizumwami, the head of Biruma. In Katale, the neighboring village, a school was also bombarded, its tin roof pierced, two classrooms completely destroyed. There were no casualties, the buildings being empty during the bombardment.

On the road to Goma, army patrols have intensified, tanks are visible. But the panic remains. In the neighboring territory of Nyiragongo, where fighting opposed the army to the M23 at the end of May, dozens of families are leaving with meager possessions. “I have no fixed destination, I just have to save my life”explains Elisabeth Nsengiyunva. “The inhabitants of Gasiza, very close to the Virunga park, told us that they had seen the rebels, who told them that they were coming and were going to kill us all”adds, panicked, the mother of the family.

An army officer in Kibumba, about twenty kilometers from Goma, deplores these population movements caused by rumors, he assures, peddled on social networks.