Highlights: DRC: Bukavu lacking food after road blockages due to conflict with M23 in North Kivu. War has cut off traffic on the Goma-Bukavu road section and the presence of rebels in the territories from which the food came is increasingly complicating the situation. Conflicts have blocked access to many foods such as potatoes, corn, cassava and beans. During an angry march last Thursday, civil society in South KivU proposed closing the borders with Rwanda.

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DRC: Bukavu lacking food after road blockages due to conflict with M23 in North Kivu

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, residents of South Kivu have been experiencing food shortages since the resumption of the M23 war in the neighboring province of North Kivu. The city of Bukavu received its food supplies there. But the war has cut off traffic on the Goma-Bukavu road section and the presence of rebels in the territories from which the food came is increasingly complicating the situation. This observation is unanimous in a market in Bukavu.

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Sellers of basic necessities wait for customers in front of their stands at the Nyawera market in Bukavu, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, here on March 16, 2022. © Guerchom Ndebo / AFP

By: RFI Follow

With our correspondent in Bukavu,

William Basimike

In his bean and soya depot

located

in the Beach Muhanzi market on the shores of Lake Kivu, Wakengo Itete empties the five bags remaining from his stock. Prices too high, difficulties in obtaining supplies: the fifty-year-old shares his difficulties:

“Before the conflict resumed, I bought 50 bags of beans for $60, and soybeans for $70. Currently, it’s $90 to $100. A bag of cassava sold for 30 dollars, today it's more than 50 dollars! Moreover, cassava is difficult to access these days. We thought we would get our supplies from Rwanda, but the export of beans by small traders has become a fraud among our neighbors.

Other traders try to source food from neighboring villages. But here too production is low. Conflicts have

blocked access to many foods

such as potatoes, corn, cassava and beans.

Christian Baguma, a civil society actor from Bukavu, proposes a solution: “

It is enough only to rehabilitate the agricultural service roads, such as towards Mwenga, Kalehe, the Ruzizi river plain, the Mulume-Munene road and secure territories and villages that are insecure. This can still prevent food shortages in Bukavu. We have land that is arable here but we lack that spirit of creativity.

During an angry march last Thursday

, civil society in South Kivu proposed closing the borders with Rwanda. But Bukavu stocks up on meat, corn flour and vegetables there.

Also read: Fighting in eastern DRC: why control of the town of Sake is strategic

DRC: Bukavu lacking food after road blockages due to conflict with M23 in North Kivu

DRC: Bukavu lacking food after road blockages due to conflict with M23 in North Kivu

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