Over 700 DRC Nationals Escape to Rwanda Amid Renewed Clashes
Women and children comprise the bulk of those seeking refuge, Phanuel Sindayiheba, a local government administrator in western Rwanda's Rusizi district adjacent to Congo, disclosed to journalists.
The displaced population is temporarily sheltered at a transit facility within the district, where authorities are distributing essential provisions including meals and sleeping materials, Sindayiheba reported.
Social media footage captured streams of evacuees advancing toward Rwanda via the Congo-Rwanda Bugarama-Kamanyola border crossing—many transporting personal possessions and farm animals.
Local outlets reported Friday that hostilities escalated during morning hours near Luvungi town in South Kivu province in eastern Congo, where Congolese military units clashed with M23 fighters, triggering mass civilian exodus.
Une, a regional news platform, indicated the insurgents executed synchronized assaults against government military positions at daybreak, sparking alarm just one day after Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi and Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame formalized a peace framework in Washington, facilitated by the US.
Lawrence Kanyuka, an M23 spokesperson, alleged in a statement on American social media platform X that Congolese forces and allied militias initiated "attacks on densely populated areas in North Kivu and South Kivu, using fighter jets, drones, and heavy artillery."
He further asserted that two munitions fired from neighboring Burundi Thursday evening impacted near Kamanyola town, claiming four lives and critically wounding two others.
Rwanda faces persistent allegations of supporting M23 rebels—accusations Kigali has repeatedly rejected.
Thursday's signing ceremony featured Trump declaring: "Today, we commit to stopping decades of violence and bloodshed, and to begin a new era of harmony and cooperation between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda."
Kagame characterized the US-led peace agreement as providing "everything needed to end this conflict once and for all."
Tshisekedi stated the Washington accords, which target peace and prosperity, "must be for our peoples, a symbol of an irreversible commitment to turn (the) page of confrontations and to open a new era of cooperation and sustainable peace throughout the region."
Between July and October alone, armed assaults, clashes, land disputes, and natural disasters displaced over 123,600 individuals in Congo, according to UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs statistics.
Legal Disclaimer:
EIN Presswire provides this news content "as is" without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.
