KINSHASA, April 11 (NNN-AGENCIES) — About 40,000 people have been displaced by recent clashes between the M23 rebels and the Congolese Armed Forces in Eastern Congo, humanitarian officials have said.
According to the deputy provincial leader of North Kivu, Emmanuel Muhozi, the fleeing people are also living without humanitarian assistance.
“People meet in Rutsiro and Ntamugenga, in schools and churches. No assistance so far has been given to the refugees who have nothing. They have no water, food or shelter. During this very rainy period in our communities, the refugees are exposed to all bad weather,” Muhozi said, adding that several movements of the population has been registered for the past two weeks.
“From March 27 until today, the population is undergoing a dramatic humanitarian situation,” he added.
The fight against M23 rebels has pushed the number of refugees crossing into Uganda via the DRC-Uganda Bunagana border point to over 10,000.
The refugees currently being sheltered at Bunagana Islamic Primary School fled DRC following M23 rebel attack on a Congolese military detach, less than a kilometer from the Uganda border with DRC.
Other refugees, fleeing the M23 rebel clashes with the Congolese Army, Nakasiita added, were using the Bwere border point to enter Uganda.
Out of the eight villages in Jomba, one of the key territories for M23 rebels, only two are still in the control of rebels, Congolese military officials said over the weekend.
The Congolese armed forces added that they were closing in on Mungo village, which houses the main base for M23 rebels. — NNN-AGENCIES