Violence in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo has already pushed over 72,000 people to leave their homes, even migrating to neighboring Uganda. The budget is drawn up by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, after last week’s clashes between the army and the rebels of the M23 group, a group that claims to defend the interests of the Tutsi ethnic group. The Reuters agency underlines that this is the bloodiest offensive since 2012-2013, with already tangible repercussions on the humanitarian crisis in the country. In the Democratic Republic of Congo there are already 5.6 million displaced people, almost 2 million of which in the North Kivu province alone. The most violent fighting, writes Reuters, took place about 20 kilometers from Goma, the main city in the eastern part of the country.
Tensions with Rwanda: “Help the rebels”
The crisis is spreading beyond the borders with neighboring Rwanda, accused by the Congolese government of supporting the offensive of the M23 rebels. The authorities summoned the ambassador to Kigali and suspended the flights of the company Rwand’Air. The tensions between the two countries are not unprecedented. The government and UN investigators have already accused Kigali of supporting the uprising of a decade ago and are now talking about a “repeat offender” on the part of the Rwandan authorities. Kinshasa has classified the rebels as a terrorist formation and refuses to admit them to the negotiating table with the other militias operating in the East, conducted alternately in Nairobi (Kenya). Tensions in the eastern Congo area, Reuters recalls, have been dragging on since 1996, when Rwanda and other neighboring countries crossed borders to capture Hutu militiamen involved in the 1994 genocide.
