DRC: the M23 occupies the town of Bunagana

Congolese soldiers in the town of Bunagana.

(Illustration) AFP - HABIBOU BANGRE

Text by: RFI Follow

2 mins

In the east of the DRC, the strategic town of Bunagana, bordering Uganda, is occupied by the armed group M23, after clashes against the FARDC this weekend.

An occupation confirmed by the Congolese army in a press release published this Monday evening.

Congolese soldiers were forced to retreat to the Ugandan side of the border. 

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With our correspondents in Kinshasa and Kampala,

New fatigues, rubber boots and Kalashnikovs slung over their shoulders, the fighters claiming to be M23 patrolled the streets of Bunagana, on the border between the

and Uganda, on Monday, deserted by the inhabitants.

, they also watched over the main entry points of Bunagana.

This strategic agglomeration remained cut off from the rest of the region.

All day, motorcycles and other vehicles did not dare to venture there.

For its part, the Congolese army speaks

by the Rwandan army.

She affirms "

".

For its part, Rwanda still denies any involvement of its soldiers.

The M23 has been on a war footing for several months.

There are occasional offensives.

Let's say that the M23 made representations to the Congolese government to obtain certain things, but it was excluded from the meetings between the Congolese government and the armed groups which took place in Nairobi.

This is the first cause of their hostility.

The other cause is probably to be found in Kigali, because the M23 has been a proxy for Kigali since its birth.

He can't do anything without Kigali being notified.

We must therefore place this in the regional game, with a Rwandan government that wants to continue to maintain its hold on North Kivu.

And thus signal to the whole region, especially in Kenya, that he remains the essential interlocutor for all that concerns security issues in North Kivu.

Thierry Vircoulon, researcher at IFRI

Alexandra Brangeon

Moussa Faki Mahamat, the chairperson of the African Union Commission, encouraged Kinshasa and Kigali to resolve any differences through dialogue and consultation.

In Kinshasa, a closed session was decreed at Monday's plenary session in the National Assembly to discuss the subject.

Faced with the perceptible tension in the hemicycle, Christophe Mboso, president of the lower house of Parliament, called on the deputies to calm while waiting "

".

Population and soldiers take refuge in Uganda

Nearly a hundred Congolese soldiers have sought refuge in Uganda since Sunday evening, said UPDF spokesman Felix Kulayigye.

According to him, the FARDC soldiers, housed in a barracks near the Bunagana border, will remain there until the situation stabilizes on the Congolese side.

They were escorted to the barracks after presenting themselves to the authorities on their arrival, details Hajj Shafiq Ssekandi, one of the leaders of the Ugandan border district of Kisoro.

The Kampala administration is, according to him, now responsible for ensuring the safe return of these soldiers to the DRC.

The Congolese soldiers are far from the only ones to have sought protection in Uganda following the fighting this weekend between the FARDC and the armed group M23.

Kisoro authorities assure that several thousand displaced people have crossed the border in the past two days.

In total, since March and the intensification of the clashes, the Ugandan Red Cross has registered nearly 30,000 new Congolese refugees.

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