M23 rebels consolidate control of Uvira, with bodies in streets and power cuts, after offensive using drones and guided mortars backed by Rwanda
UVIRA: M23 fighters combed the streets of this eastern DR Congo city on Thursday to flush out remaining enemy combatants.
The move came a day after the rebel group took over strategic parts of the city near the Burundi border, according to security and local sources.
Businesses have been closed for several days with only a few motorcycles seen on the streets.
Sporadic gunshots still rang out, local civil society representatives said.
Around 10 bodies were collected from the streets between Wednesday and Thursday, witnesses reported.
“Yesterday we collected at least nine bodies and today two on the avenue leading to Saint Paul’s Cathedral,” a civil society representative told AFP.
The M23, backed by Rwanda and its army, is seeking to take control of neighbourhoods where militia who have not fled have taken refuge.
This mirrors its strategy in the provincial capitals of Goma and Bukavu, seized earlier this year.
The city hall, provincial governor’s office and the border post to Burundi fell to the M23 on Wednesday.
Most Congolese forces had fled in the preceding days.
Almost all parts of the city suffered power cuts on Thursday.
Many residents relied on battery-powered phones for contact with the outside world.
The M23 offensive was launched just before Kinshasa and Kigali signed a peace deal in Washington.
Burundi’s foreign minister described the offensive on Wednesday as a “humiliation” for the United States.
Experts say the offensive aims to deprive the DRC of military support from Burundi.
Some of the 18,000 Burundian forces in South Kivu province have already crossed back to Bujumbura.
Around 2,500 are still in the hills overlooking Uvira and the Ruzizi border plain, army sources said.
The Burundian army has lost several hundred men in the fighting, according to military sources.
A Burundian general acknowledged “humiliating defeats” when contacted by AFP.
The Rwandan army used drones, GPS-guided mortars and jammers during the offensive on Uvira, security sources confirmed. – AFP
