RFI
DRC: Congolese army targeted in attacks in Masisi territory
The authorities of the province do not hide their concern, especially since the coalition which is operating includes the main armed groups in the area. Coordinated attacks on several localities of the territory. The FARDC managed to retake some of them and were preparing a major offensive. With our special correspondent in Kinshasa, Sonia Rolley If you ask the question, it is incomprehensible all these coordinated attacks with these well-armed men, explains an authority from North Kivu. The coalition facing the Congolese soldiers is made up of several groups that were once rivals: members of the APCLS, the Nyatura, and in particular of the new CMC platform, very close to the Rwandan Hutu rebels, FDLR, to which would be added today , according to his information, combatants of the NDC-Renové of the warlord Guidon, who have long been considered an ally of the Congolese army and an enemy of the Nyatura-APCLS coalition.Since last year, two factions of this group have been opposing, one of them is loyal to the warlord Guidon. “These groups come together when their survival is at stake and Guidon has lost the support of FARDC officers”, specifies a local researcher who says he has observed a steady deterioration of the situation for months. This researcher also explains that one of the groups of the rival faction of Guidon participated in the operations against the APCLS. This is how the former enemies would have become allies again. Another factor that could explain this mobilization: the announcement of discussions with the Rwandan army around future operations while the local populations are hostile to them. Still, for civil society, these attacks are made possible by the small number of Congolese army personnel on the ground. “We can not either put soldiers in each locality, the problem is that they attack on several fronts”, one replies from the governorate side of the province. Doctors Without Borders has received at least 17 wounded in the health structures that the NGO supports. MSF also says it has at least 6,000 displaced people in the area.
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