East African Community investigates massacre of 11 people in DR Congo

M23 gunmen in Masisi, Democratic Republic of Congo, January 8, 2023. (Photo: AFP/VNA)

The East African Community (EAC) force in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo said on July 17 that it would send a delegation to the area where locals accused M23 rebels of killing 11 people to investigate the incident.

Although the M23 rebel group has denied carrying out the massacre, according to sources in the Rutshuru territory of North Kivu province, the bodies of 11 people shot or hacked to pieces were discovered on July 16 in Bukombo, about 100km north of the provincial capital Goma, after the rebels withdrew from the area.

Kivu Security Tracker (KST), a reputable conflict monitoring organization, said “at least 11 civilians” had been killed in the area after being forced to transport military equipment.

The organization added that the M23 group was suspected of being behind the massacre. However, M23 spokesman Lawrence Kanyuka denied any responsibility.

Mr Kanyuka said the group had handed over control of Bukombo to EAC forces deployed in eastern DRC, stressing that government -allied forces had been fighting for control of the area after M23 withdrew.

Meanwhile, EAC spokesman Major Albert Wanyoni Nyakundi said an investigation team was preparing to go to the area to "find out what really happened and who was involved."

The Tutsi-led M23 rebel group has seized swathes of territory and displaced about a million people in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo since re-emerging in late 2021 after a period of limited activity.

An informal, fragile ceasefire has held between rebels and regular DRC forces since EAC forces were deployed to the region late last year.

But sporadic clashes between M23 and local militias loyal to the government continue.

In November 2021, the rebel group took up arms again, accusing the Democratic Republic of Congo government of violating agreements regarding the integration of the group's disarmed fighters into the army.

The M23 rebel group launched a new offensive in the mineral-rich east of the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2022, forcing at least 450,000 people to flee their homes, despite military containment and regional efforts to resolve the conflict.

On January 6, the M23 rebel group began a phased withdrawal from a United Nations base in the eastern region of North Kivu province, as part of a ceasefire brokered by regional leaders./.

(Vietnam+)

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