Goma, November 16th, 2022 (CPA).- The military governor of Nord Kivu, Lt General Constant Ndima, in a statement read to the press on Tuesday in Goma, reassured the population of the FARDC’s determination to always contain the rebels M23, supported by Rwanda, in Kibumba.
« I want to reassure you that the loyalist forces behave very well on the ground of operations, and contain the enemy in the heights of Kibumba », he declared, thus rejecting « the rumours conveyed by the enemy in order to create a general panic among the population”.
The urban authority, in its appeal, asked its constituents to remain calm and go about their business freely.
“However, I ask you to remain vigilant and resist the enemy,” he urged them.
A movement of displaced persons housed in the sites of Kibati, Kanyarucinya, Kahembe and Munigi, at the entrance to the city of Goma, seized with fear following a relief judged to be usually of the soldiers engaged at the front, led to the panic, Tuesday, in the streets of the capital of Nord Kivu.
In addition, the EAC Facilitator, Uhuru Kenyatta, who arrived the same day in Goma from Kinshasa, paid a comfort visit to the displaced people in Kanyarucinya, alongside the military governor, CPA learned.
“There is no danger, there was no reason to move because the situation remains under control,” he reassured them.
This situation comes after the Spokesman of the 34th Military Region, Lt Colonel Guillaume Ndjike Kaiko reassured that the FARDC continued to contain the provocations of the enemy at the entrance to the city of Kibumba, capital of the territory. of Nyiragongo, located 29 km from Goma, and that everything was put to use by the loyalist army to defend the integrity of the national territory.
The drama of the displaced people of Nord Kivu
Several thousand households, forced to wander, have been flooding Goma, capital of the province of Nord Kivu, since the resumption, on October 20th, of hostilities launched by the M23 supported by the Rwandan army.
The provincial coordination of civil protection/Nord Kivu recently reported that these unfortunate people face vital needs in the sites of Kibati, Kanyaruchinya, Munigi, in the territory of Nyiragongo, as well as in the northern part of the city of Goma.
“In addition to the emergency assistance given by the Governor of the province of Nord Kivu, Lieutenant General Constant Ndima Kongba, international organizations have been active since the arrival in waves of these people in distress. This is the case of the ICRC and the NGOs MSF, ”says the source.
Since the resumption of hostilities, we are informed, localities in Rutshuru territory, such as Rugari (40 km north of Goma), Bweza (50 km north-east of Goma) and Kisigari have been emptied of the majority of their inhabitants who headed south.
Others opted for the North of Rutshuru passing through the Virunga National Park, until reaching the cities of Kanyabayonga, Kayina and Kibumba, in the territory of Lubero.
Some testimonials
Testimonies collected two weeks ago by CPA reporters on the Neema Munigi Primary School (EP) sites in Kanyaruchinya and Kibati reported deplorable conditions for the displaced.
« It was while fleeing heavy gunfire that my husband made this painful decision, despite my state of health and my pregnancy almost at term, » said Mrs. Rukundo Mapendo, in her thirties, came from the locality of Kanombe-Bukima, in the Kisigari groupement.
She is settled with her family at the EP Neema, located in the Majengo district, further north of the city of Goma, where 38 households of M23 war displaced live, alternating with schoolchildren, in the morning.
Despite her situation, Ms. Rukundo Mapendo only asks to return to her home and continue to go about her rural occupations.
In the locality of Kanyaruchinya (7 km north of Goma), Ms. Rumba, in her late thirties, first said that she was very concerned about the absence of her husband, whom she had lost contact with since the resumption of the fighting, the October 20th last.
« I fled the Bweza groupement, in Rutshuru territory, with my five children, without any contact here in Goma and I only took a few things that I ended up selling, to look for something to feed these kids,” she said.
Rwandan support to M23.
The Congolese government has always denounced the aggression of its territory by Rwanda, under cover of the M23. Head of State Félix Tshisekedi even had to say it from the top of the United Nations rostrum, during the 77th UN General Assembly in New York.
The offensive and occupation of the city of Bunagana, in the province of Nord Kivu, falls within this framework.
Furthermore, the confidential report of the United Nations group of experts on the DRC, transmitted to the member states of the UN Security Council, accuses the Rwandan army of having participated in attacks against Congolese soldiers and of having equipped and provided reinforcements to the M23 rebel movement.
Rwanda has also provided troop reinforcements for specific M23 operations, particularly when these aimed to seize towns and strategic areas, the document confirms.
M23 attacks, backed by Rwanda, in Rutshuru caused the displacement of 234,488 people from combat zones to areas considered secure so far, reports the Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) .
“In the territory of Rutshuru, the attacks of the rebel group M23 caused the displacement of 234,488 people (40,027 households) from the combat zones (groupings of Jomba, Bweza and Kisigari) to areas considered secure, in the territories of Nyiragongo, Rutshuru and Lubero, including the health zones of Nyiragongo, Bambo, Kayna and Kibirizi« , notes the report of this system for monitoring the displacement and mobility of populations of the World Organization for Migration (IOM), published on Monday. November 14th, 2022.
The locality of Kibumba, capital of the territory of Nyiragongo, a decentralized administrative entity in the east of the province of Nord Kivu, has only one chiefdom headed by the Mwami and divided into 7 groups of 58 villages.
It is located on the RN2 national road, 29 km north of the provincial capital, Goma. ACP/