In a series of unrelenting conflicts, some fresh clashes have occured between the army and M23 rebels who had recently erupted in eastern DR Congo thereby breaking a period of relative calm between the two sides.
The M23 rebels which is a mostly Congolese Tutsi group had resumed fighting late 2021 after they had been lying dormant for years and it has since captured swathes of territory in North Kivu province, which also includes the strategic town of Bunagana on the Ugandan border in June.
The resurgence of the group has destabilised regional relations in central Africa, with the Democratic Republic of Congo accusing its smaller neighbour Rwanda of backing the militia against them.
The frontline between Congolese troops and M23 rebels had been calm in recent weeks. But clashes erupted again on Thursday, violence monitor Kivu Security Tracker stated on Saturday evening.
On Sunday, army officials and local residents said that M23 fighters had captured the village of Ntamugenga, a strategic target that lies close to the highway leading north out of provincial capital Goma.
“The situation is gloomy here,” said village chief Celestin Nyamugira. “They came from the forest and infiltrated the city.”
Congolese Colonel Mavinga Serge confirmed the capture of the village to AFP, but said troops were “next door”.
The M23 first leapt to prominence in 2012 when it briefly captured Goma before a joint Congolese-UN offensive drove it out.
In another report, it has revealed that a United Nations peacekeeper has been killed in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo as had been reported by the United Nations (UN) and Congolese officials on Saturday.
It had also been reported that the UN peacekeeping mission in the DRC which is also known as MONUSCO, had stated that suspected members of the Twirwaneho militia had conducted the attack on Friday night in the Minembwe area of South Kivu province.
