BUKAVU: Every day, the Congolese town of Bukavu, which is now under the command of the Rwanda-backed M23 movement, lists its lifeless. Carcasses are discovered in the rough streets of South Kivu province’s capital at dawn, which has been under the control of the anti-government team since mid-February when it launched a lightning offensive.
After the M23 combatants and their Congolese allies seized the area in the dangerous eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the Congolese government fled the area and met hardly any opposition. At the end of January, the M23 had now taken control of Goma, another significant town in eastern DRC.
However, the armed party has struggled to control the large area it has seized. No one there is able to determine the perpetrators with certainty or actually understand the circumstances surrounding nightly killings.
There are hardly any authorities in the regions under M23 command. The streets of Bukavu’s two million or so residents can enjoy some degree of civility during the day, but when it gets dark, they vanish.
” We sleep through the night.” Bandits may enter our homes at any time, according to Jean Bosco, a citizen of Bukavu, who says he hurries house before nightfall. African soldiers who fled the city left behind arms that were later taken by scammers.
Thousands of pro-Kinshasa “wazalendo” ( “patriots” in Swahili ) militia members have hidden in the suburbs of the city due to their brutality and lack of military discipline.
Numerous criminals who have been free from captivity have joined them. They rob and break into houses in smaller groups.
Crime is likewise fueled by a lack of funds in M23-governed places, where banks were shut down months ago and are no longer provided by Kinshasa’s money.
” Common anxiety”
They broke into my friend’s house last month, and they hit her in the brain, forcing her to palm over her belongings, according to Bosco. Hardly a day goes by without the topic of “widespread worry,” according to Amos Bisimwa, a representative for civil society organizations in Bukavu.
People make an effort to organize themselves by purchasing lights to illuminate the pavements and whistles to notify neighbors in the event of an attack. Humanitarian and civil society organizations have provided extensive documentation of the hangings of suspected criminals and occasionally cover-ups for revenge killings.
The M23 movement has also been accused by the UN of extrajudicial murders of alleged offenders, some of whom are under the age of 18; these cases also involve children. According to safety resources, the M23 has between 6, 000 and 10, 000 fighters stationed on the ground, and it now relies on the thousands of residents who live in areas under its control to review criminals.
However, it has some opposition, with some fearing violence and some putting off quiet weight. This is especially true in places, which are “more politicised than the countryside,” according to Onesphore Sematumba, a scientist with the International Crisis Group.
After conquering Goma,” the M23 had to stay in Goma to strengthen its positions and show its ability to run these areas” or” to take advantage of the lack of weight to pursue the Rwandan army as far as possible and pressure Kinshasa to negotiate,” Sematumba said. He continued,” The M23 finds itself outside and somewhere,” citing the fact that it had taken Bukavu and significantly expanded its place.
Tired of fighting year after year?
The “wazalendo” military members who regularly descend into the places to carry out guerrilla warfare and riches homes have found refuge in the hillsides surrounding Bukavu and Goma. On April 11, military members launched a nighttime assault on Goma, but the M23 quickly led them to retreat, causing severe fire to erupt in various neighborhoods.
They launched an invasion into Bukavu’s Kavumu region, home to the airport, two days later. Eventually, M23 spokesman Lawrence Kanyuka invited the media to the tarmac of the airport where he claimed the organization was working” to secure the population 24 hours a day” while recognizing that the “wazalendo” were committed” crimes every day”.
A young person in city Kavumu said he was “tired of the regular war,” and he did so on the condition of anonymity. ” We’ll congratulate them if the wazalendo show up. We’ll do the same if the M23 insurgents show up, he said.
The M23 organization wants to increase its ranks in addition to boosting its ranks in order to gain public assistance through good governance. The M23’s enlisted police officers and soldiers in Congo are receiving professional and intellectual training in the form of a hive. Some were already in place over the weekend, according to a M23 consultant who spoke to AFP.
