Civilians fled on Thursday as M23 rebels, supported by Rwanda, advanced on another strategic town in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, according to local sources.
The March 23 Movement resumed its armed campaign at the end of 2021, seizing large portions of North Kivu province.
The DRC army has been trying to counter the rebel group, which has nearly encircled Goma, the provincial capital, where hundreds of thousands of displaced people have taken refuge.
The rebels are now approaching Kanyabayonga, a town on the road to Goma. “The M23 is five kilometers (about three miles) from the center of Kanyabayonga,” a local official told AFP via phone. “Kanyabayonga is in the process of emptying itself,” another source said. “The situation is very bad and people have started fleeing north,” the unnamed official added.
Goma, which lies on the route to the key cities of Butembo and Beni, is home to about 60,000 residents and tens of thousands of displaced people.
Fighting was also reported Thursday in the Masisi area around Sake, about 20 kilometers west of Goma. The FARDC, or DRC armed forces, along with the Wazalendo militia, launched an offensive about a week ago in North Kivu’s Rutshuru and Masisi territories to reclaim areas occupied by the M23.
On Monday, the M23 seized the town of Kyaghala, prompting residents to flee towards Kanyabayonga, a civil society official reported.
