Through this dismal expanse where clouds of smoke rise, an online road online carries an almost uninterrupted flow of soldiers and vehicles towards the front, now ten kilometers from the capital of the northern province- Kivu.
After multiple setbacks, the Congolese army assisted by a heterogeneous coalition of armed groups, international forces and private security companies, can no longer go back to the M23. The armed group supported by Rwanda and its army has continued to gain ground from its resurgence in 2021 to surround almost Goma.
The spectacle attracts a host of curious perched on black rocks. Most are residents from the neighboring displaced camps, first threatened by the extension of violence.
Some came to show their support for the troops, such as Donatien Kahimbi, a mason who had to flee his home almost a year ago.
“We came there to give morale to the soldiers, so that they are strong,” he explains.
He cannot flee further: “We have been leaking three times, we are completely traumatized, we do not know what to do”.
Christian Dieudonné, electrician, came with the hope of crossing his family members on the road, who would have fled after him the city of Minova, recently won over by the M23.
Read also: DRC: near Goma, concern swells as the M23 approaches
“We do not know if they are already dead, we do not know,” he worries. “We are waiting for those who will pass there and may be able to inform us.”
“No further”
Below, Congolese special forces and Romanian employees of a private security company are custody, their positions behind the herbs, from which a rocket sometimes sets out to the sky.
They are trying somehow to curb the ardor of the public, which runs after the vehicles of the heroes of the day.
-“You don’t have to go further, it pulls there!” In vain a Romanian instructor.
The bullets whistling above the heads do not worry. They were more or less taken towards the sky by militiamen perched on motorcycles, immediately admonished by a Congolese officer for their imprudence.
But the public, him, appreciates and acclaimed these Wazalendo (“patriots” in Swahili), nickname of pro-Kinshasa militiamen, who thwart the rumors of stampede.
Intense fights in the neighboring town of Sake was a new shock wave. Summoned to react, the Congolese army seems to throw all its strength in the battle.
Read also: Is from the DRC: M23 seizes Minova, commercial knot
The trucks loaded with soldiers scroll, pulling cannons, followed by an old Soviet tank that progresses while spitting. Even troops of the Development Community of Southern Africa (SADC), regularly accused of inaction against the M23, pass their heavy artillery towed by armored trucks.
Suddenly, an unusual clamor: three attack helicopters arise in the sky. The MI24 of the Congolese army, rarely used due to the anti-aircraft means of the M23 and Rwanda, fly in the ground of the plain and unload the Salves of Roquettes before turning back under the cheers.
About ten kilometers, in downtown Goma, the echo of explosions is still distant. But the concern has won the streets full of soldiers and militiamen perched on motorcycles, which rush through traffic jams, weapons in hand.
The west axes are bottled with minibus and motorcycles carrying passengers and luggage that flee the fights. In the opposite direction, the same vehicles go up to empty to get new candidates for exile. In the markets, the first shortages are felt.
Par LE360 Africa (with AFP)
01/24/2025 at 7:47 am
