GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo – M23 rebels in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have captured the eastern border town of Bunagana, local activists said on Monday, fleeing more than 30,000 civilians to neighboring Uganda.
The capture of Bunagana was a major blow to the Congolese army, who had said the day before that they had rebels.
United Nations And African Union Warn of escalating violence in a region where conflicts in the 1990s and 2000s killed millions, mostly from disease and hunger, and spawned dozens of militias that are still active today.
Bungana was an M23 stronghold during the 2012 insurgency that captured the Congolese city of Goma, and UN forces pursued rebels in neighboring Rwanda and Uganda the following year.
The office of North Kivu’s military governor said on Sunday that the Congolese military had “routed” the M23 after early morning attacks near Bunagana, one of the main crossings in Uganda.
But Jean-Baptis Twijre, the president of a local civil society group, said the city fell into the hands of rebels on Sunday night.
“The Congolese soldiers, surrounded by enemies in Bunagana, could do nothing and have left the city since 11 p.m.,” he told Reuters from Bunagana on Monday.
Edgard Mateso, vice president of an advocacy group in North Kivu province, confirmed the M23 acquisition.
General Sylvain Akenge, spokesman for North Kivu’s military government, said he had no information yet.
‘Disappointing situation’
The fighting forced more than 30,000 Congolese asylum seekers and 137 Congolese soldiers into Uganda on Monday, Shafiq Sekandi, a Ugandan resident district commissioner in Kisoro district, told Reuters.
“They are all over, the streets are full, others have gone to churches, they are under trees, everywhere. It is a really depressing situation,” he said.
The United Nations had previously said 25,000 people fled Sunday’s violence.
A spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was concerned about deteriorating security in eastern Congo, including the M23 attacks. The region has seen almost constant conflict since the two invasions of Rwanda and Uganda in the 1990s.
African Union Commission President Moussa Faki Mahamat called for an immediate cessation of hostilities and talks between Congo and Rwanda to resolve the escalating diplomatic crisis.
Congolese officials on Sunday accused Rwanda of supporting the latest offensive by the M23, led by the same Tutsi ethnic group as Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame.
Rwanda has denied providing any aid and accuses Congo of collaborating with another militia group founded by ethnic Hutus who fled Rwanda after participating in the 1994 genocide. Congo has denied the allegation.
During the 2012–2013 conflict, Congolese and UN investigators accused Rwanda and Uganda of supporting the M23, which they denied.
On Monday, two senior Congolese security sources, who asked not to be named, also accused the Ugandan military of supporting the M23 offensive.
Twijere said he had seen Ugandan soldiers crossing the border to block the Congolese army’s access to Bungana.
Brigadier Felix Kulaigye, a spokesman for the Ugandan army, denied any involvement. “We are only watching closely what is happening across the border and we have been in that situation for months,” he said.
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