Kinyarwanda
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At least 18 civilians killed in violent clashes between the M23 and the FARDC in Bwito, DRC
At least eighteen civilians lost their lives on Monday in the Nyanzale area, a scene of violent clashes between the Congolese army and M23 rebels in the chiefdom of Bwito, in the territory of Rutshuru (North Kivu). The security situation remained tense this Tuesday, March 5 in this part of the DRC.
According to local sources, part of Bwito was occupied by the M23.
Detonations of heavy and light weapons were heard for a few minutes, around 5 a.m. local time, early this Tuesday, on Musumba hill overlooking Nyanzale, indicating civil society sources in the Bwito chiefdom.
As a result, this situation caused, according to the same sources, a population movement in the village of Bwalanda; while Nyanzale and its surroundings remain emptied of almost the majority of their inhabitants.
At the same time, these sources indicate that the rebels who have occupied the village of Kihondo, the southern entrance to Nyanzale, since Monday, have established their advanced position in Singa, nearly a kilometer from the center of Nyanzale.
They add that the shells, dropped by the belligerents, on several notables of Nyanzale during these fighting on Monday, caused between 15 and 18 deaths among civilians, in addition to around ten injuries and damage to the base of the peacekeepers of the MONUSCO in Kihondo.
On the Mabenga front, north of Kiwanja, these sources indicate, however, that calm is observed this Tuesday.
However, several villages located along national road number 2, between Kaunga and Mabenga, are emptied of their inhabitants. The latter are concentrated in Kiwanja.
