The fears for fresh slaughter have taken Congos on the second largest city of Bukavu while M23 rebels with Rwandese rebels supported by Rwandes by Rwandes continued to develop in the city of 1.3 million people.
Earlier this week, a new UN report warned that unprecedented levels of sexual violence against women and children had been performed by the M23 group while fighting for control over Congo's Mineral Rich East.
One of the most shocking cases of massive sexual violence was a prison interruption of the Munzenze prison at the end of last month, in which female prisoners were slaughtered in their wing of the notoriously overcrowded prison after men brought their way and gone to a disaster.
UNICEF has also reported 572 rape cases for the week from January 27 to February 2, of which 170 children.
Now, while Congo descends into further violence, Bukavu residents flee in their thousands on their way to their refuge in M23 rebels that entered the edge of the city.
After a period of long -term firefights, Congolese troops have now left the city, replacing their presence with roaming crowd of looters.
Bukavu residents fill flour bags with what they can find and have described the mass looting that takes place while burned corpses lay on the street.
Reports and videos on social media have also laid the factories of the region looted and prisons while electricity remained open in most places and opened communication lines.
M23 rebels are a guard during a CRA meeting in the city of Goma in Eastern Congo
Citizens flee in a truck of the battle between government forces and rebels
A displaced child depicted in a Congolese refugee camp on the outskirts of Goma
Speaking with the AP, a resident of Bukavu claimed that he had witnessed the soldiers of the state who participated in the looters.
Residents have also reported the death of innocent citizens in the edge of the city and blaming stray balls of firefights between government forces and rebels.
These rebels are part of the Congo River Alliance (CRA), a coalition of rebel facts that include M23.
The CRA has criticized the Congolese government forces and their allies from local militia and Burundi for the death of Bukavu citizens.
M23 pushes south by Congo with their 4,000-headed force since he took the city of Goma.
Congolese authorities and international observers have accused of sexual violence, forced military service and summary executions.
Their success in grabbing land is now an unprecedented challenge for the central government in the capital Kinshasa.
To date, the rebellion has killed nearly 3,000 people in the east of the country with at least 350,000 internal displaced persons without shelter according to the UN and Congolese authorities.
Members of the M23 Rebel Group in Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo
Citizens in the city of Bukavu are charging their vehicles while trying to flee intense fighting
M23 rebels shown through the edge of Bukavu
The remains of vehicle trapped in the crossfire of fighting between the government forces and rebels
Earlier this week, rebels also claimed to seize control of a second airport in the region in the city of Kavumu outside Bukavu.
Congolese troops had used the strategically important airport to supply troops and humanitarian groups. However, the CRA has claimed that they have taken over control of Kavumu airport to prevent government forces from launching air strikes against citizens.
Government officials and local leaders of civil society do not immediately comment, although the Ministry of Communication of Congo said that the rebels were ceasing -the -agreements -agreements and had attacked Congolese troops that worked to prevent urban warfare and violence in Bukavu.
The series of events reflects what happened last month in the run -up to the conquest of the M23 of Goma. Despite its size and financing, the Congo army has long been hindered by shortcomings in training and coordination and recurring reports of corruption.
Now regional leaders fear that the conflict could spread further than the boundaries of Congo, with the conflict that is discussed this weekend at the African Union -top in Ethiopa.
Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi has encouraged the international community to intervene in suppressing the rebels of progress and on the black -list 'expansionist' Rwanda for supporting M23.
Despite these calls, both regional leaders and the international community are reluctant to take decisive action.
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres of the UN warned, although the conflict could go through in a regional sea of fire if there were no stopping.
The streets of Bukavu have largely been left behind after a wave of looting grabbed the city
The burnt remains of a person are in the middle of an empty bukavu street
An inverted armored vehicle from the Democratic Republic of Congo forces (Fardc) can be seen in Sake on February 9, 2025
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned, although the conflict could go through in a regional fire if fighting does not stop
“Regional escalation must be avoided at all costs,” Guterres told the top of the African Union. “The sovereignty and territorial integrity of (Congo) must be respected.”
Although Guterres said that the solution for the conflict was in Africa, African leaders do not agree on how to resolve the conflict in a way that satisfies the warring parties.
Despite universal calls for a ceasefire -the rebellion, the rebellion has inflamed historical tensions in the Great Lakes region.
Troops from Burundi have been deployed to strengthen Congolese troops, with Ugandan troops fighting other rebel groups in Eastern Congo.
Ugandan troops hunt for Islamic Allied Democratic troops north of Bukavu, where the fighting has seriously escalated.
In a post on X on Saturday, Uganda's best military commander called on all militia members to surrender or attack themselves within the next 24 hours.
