Sources say at least nine people have been killed by suspected M23 rebels in an attack on a village in the Democratic Republic of the Congo that is being held by military personnel that the East African Community (EAC) deployed to stop the violence in the region’s east.
Residents claim that armed men attacked the Marangara village overnight in the Rutshuru district of North Kivu province, the latest attack in the unrest-plagued area in recent weeks.
“There are nine dead, of which two are in military uniforms, and four injured but also five homes burned,” a local leader told newsmen, requesting anonymity for security reasons.
He continued by saying that the attackers’ identities were still unknown. Speaking to reporters under the condition of anonymity, a member of civil society claimed that “the attackers were M23 rebels,” a Tutsi-led group that has been accused of several atrocities against local civilians.
“The preliminary toll is nine dead, including women and children, but also two suspected FDLR members,” he added, a majority Hutu militia founded by members responsible for the genocide of Tutsis in Rwanda in 1994.
The Rwandan government views the FDLR as a threat and has used the group’s presence to support previous incursions in the DR Congo. After one victim later passed away from injuries, a hospital source reported 10 fatalities.
Since resuming its armed operations in late 2021 after years of inactivity, M23 has taken control of large areas of land in North Kivu.
Despite denials from Kigali, independent UN experts, the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and several Western countries like the United States and France accuse Rwanda of actively supporting the M23.