Twelve victims of last week’s deadly explosion at a rally in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) were laid to rest on Tuesday in a funeral organized by newly appointed rebel authorities.
The blast occurred last Thursday in Bukavu, a city that has been under the control of Rwanda-backed M23 rebels since February. The DRC government and the insurgents have blamed each other for the attack.
According to witnesses, a grenade aimed at a convoy of rebel leaders in the city’s central square missed its target, detonating instead in a crowd.
The explosion claimed 17 lives, with 11 people dying on the spot and others succumbing to their injuries in hospital, newly appointed provincial vice governor Dunia Masumbuko Bwenge told reporters.
At the funeral, mourners sang as a priest sprinkled holy water on the coffins. Women who had lost husbands and sons wept as the coffins were loaded onto a truck for burial.
Claude Balolebwami Nyarubasa, who lost his older brother Bruno in the explosion, voiced deep concern over the ongoing violence.
“We are very worried. We ask our government to guarantee us peace. We plead with the government to help us—let these killings stop,” he told Reuters.
The DRC’s army claimed last Friday that Rwandan troops and M23 rebels had fired rockets and grenades into the crowd as a rebel leader was delivering a speech. Rwanda has denied supporting the insurgents.
Meanwhile, Corneille Nangaa, leader of a rebel alliance, accused DRC President Felix Tshisekedi of being responsible for the attack.
The latest escalation by M23 marks the most serious advance in over a decade of the long-running conflict in eastern DRC, which stems from the spillover of Rwanda’s 1994 genocide, battles over the country’s vast mineral wealth, and struggles over national identity.
