Nearly 400,000 Displaced by Violence in Eastern DR Congo’s Province
Referential image. Photo: x/ @BataillonH
March 15, 2025 Hour: 2:20 pm
The spokesman of the UN General Secretariat, Stéphane Dujarric, detailed this Friday in his daily press conference in New York that about 370.000 have been displaced by violence since the beginning of February in the territories of Uvira and Fizi, while more than 20,000 have had to leave their homes since 3 March in the territory of Walungu.
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“Serious violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law have been reported, including almost 400 cases of sexual violence registered in Uvira between 9 and 25 February,” explained Dujarric.
“Humanitarian organizations have also been targeted in Uvira,” he added, without giving further details.
The violence in South Kivu has also resulted in a “dramatic increase in serious violations against children”, including cases of “sexual violence, murder, mutilation and recruitment” by armed groups.
Dujarric revealed these figures after the M23 took control in the night from Wednesday to Thursday of the island of Idjwi, on Lake Kivu. Thus, the group now controls seven of the eight territories that make up South Kivu.
The takeover of Idjwi coincided with the announcement by the Angolan government, which acts as a mediator in the conflict, that direct peace negotiations between the DRC government and the M23 are to begin on 18 March in Luanda, the Angolan capital.
The M23, supported by Rwanda according to the UN and countries such as the US, Germany and France, controls the capitals of the provinces of North and South Kivu, bordering Rwanda and rich in minerals such as gold or coltan, for the technology industry and in mobile phone manufacturing.
The number of people killed by the conflict in and around the capital of North Kivu, Goma, has exceeded 8,500 since last January, according to the Congolese Minister of Public Health, Samuel Roger Kamba.
In this province, the armed activity of the M23-a group mainly made up of Tutsis who suffered from the 1994 Rwandan genocide-resumed in November 2021 with flash attacks against the Congolese army.
Autor: ACJ
Fuente: EFE
