Muhamad Yehia.. Cairo
At least 50 people were killed in weekend attacks in Congo’s conflict-battered east, authorities said Saturday.
The government traded blame with Rwanda-backed rebels over who was responsible for the violence that quickly escalated the conflict in the region, with Congolese armed forces denying any role in the attacks.
Meanwhile, a branch of the Wazalendo militia, which fights alongside the Congolese armed forces, claimed responsibility for the violence in the city of Goma
The renewed violence that residents reported in and around the region’s largest city of Goma — which the M23 rebels control — was the biggest threat yet to ongoing peace efforts by both the Gulf Arab state of Qatar and African nations in the conflict that has raised fears of regional warfare.
Goma resident Amboma Safari recounted how his family of four spent the night under their bed as they heard gunfire and bomb blasts through Friday night.
“We saw corpses of soldiers, but we don’t know which group they are from,” Safari said.
Thousands of deaths and millions of displaced persons
The decades-long conflict between Congo and the M23 rebels escalated in January, when the rebels made an unprecedented advance and seized the strategic eastern Congolese city of Goma, followed by the town of Bukavu in February.
The latest fighting has killed some 3,000 people and worsened what was already one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises, with around 7 million people displaced.
In a statement, Congo’s Ministry of Interior said 52 people were killed between Friday and Saturday, including a person shot dead at Goma’s Kyeshero Hospital.
The ministry blamed the attack on M23.
M23 spokesperson Lawrence Kanyuka blamed Congolese forces and their allies for the attacks. Kanyuka said in a statement that Congo’s joint operations with local militias and southern African troops “directly threaten the stability and security of civilians” in the region.