Government forces and local militias have clashed south of the provincial capital of Bukavu in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo as troops fall back in the face of an advance by Rwanda-backed M23 rebels, military sources and townsfolk say.
The troops and their militia allies were meant to pull back from Bukavu – a trading and mining industry hub – to avoid urban battles with the rebels and to dig in elsewhere to stall the rapid offensive.
The militias wanted to stand and fight.
By the time the rebels started moving into Bukavu over the weekend, the plan was unravelling into chaos, a Congolese general, a senior officer, a community leader, and several residents told Reuters.
Having already lost Congo’s main eastern city of Goma, near the Rwandan border, the forces deployed to defend Bukavu and its 1.3 million people hastily packed up and left.
Direct clashes with the M23 were largely avoided, but towns south of Bukavu then found themselves in the middle of firefights as pro-government militia fighters, known as the Wazalendo, tried to disarm or halt retreating or deserting Congolese soldiers.
“Just this morning there was the crackle of gunfire from Kamanyola to Uvira,” a community leader said on Monday, referring to towns on the N5 road south of Bukavu that have become flashpoints far from the front line with the M23.
“All the villages on road N5 are emptying,” he said.
The disorderly retreat and the ease with which the M23 rebels have overrun eastern Congo’s two major cities have stoked fears of a break-up of the country, a regional war that could drag in Uganda, and open talk in Kinshasa of a possible coup against Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi. —BBC
