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Home East Africa Armed men seize Congo villages near Uganda, Rwanda border

Armed men seize Congo villages near Uganda, Rwanda border

by Editor lll
0 comment 2 minutes read

By Kwanta Douglas –

Gunmen captured at least two towns along the Uganda-Rwanda border in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, on Monday, according to a local authority and an activist group.

The assistant to the administrator of Rutshuru territory, Lt.-Col. Muhindo Luanzo, blamed rebels from the M23, a rebel organization that took huge swaths of land in 2012 and 2013.

The two villages, Tshanzu and Runyoni, were the M23’s last strongholds before being pursued into Uganda and Rwanda by Congolese and UN forces in 2013.

Regional efforts to demobilize the fighters have been made since then, but the group has complained about the slow pace with which a peace agreement has been implemented.

The identity of the armed guys who took over the two villages could not be confirmed right away.

Requests for comment from M23 officials and Congo’s army and government spokespeople were not immediately returned.

The gunmen invaded Tshanzu and Runyoni at around 11 p.m. on Sunday, according to Luanzo.

“Right now, our troops are undertaking counter-attack operations since they recognized the enemy coming from Rwanda during the night,” Luanzo said by phone to Reuters.

Rwanda and Uganda, who intervened militarily in Congo during two regional wars two decades ago, have been accused of assisting the M23 by United Nations investigators.

This is something that both countries deny.

A local activist group reported clashes with light and heavy weapons on Sunday night that forced people out of their homes and across the border at Bunagana into Uganda.

“Uganda is experiencing an influx of refugees from DR-Congo,’’ said Irene Nakasiita from Uganda’s Red Cross society.

On Sunday evening the U.S. issued a security alert, warning of a potential attack on the provincial capital of Goma, which is around 50 kilometres (31 miles) to the southwest of the two villages.

The U.S. then advised its personnel to shelter in place.

All major streets in Goma were later filled with soldiers, a Reuters journalist said.

NAN

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