Kinshasa (EFE).- At least 14 bodies have been found in the Walikale territory of the eastern province of North Kivu in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) following the withdrawal of the powerful March 23 Movement (M23) rebel group, medical and civil society sources confirmed to EFE on Saturday.
“Between yesterday and today, we found eight bodies of civilians killed by M23 rebels in Kangambili and two more in the Nyalusuku neighborhood. This Saturday, four more were found in Mubanda, bringing the total to 14,” Fiston Misona, a civil society activist in Walikale, told EFE.
According to Misona, since Mar. 19, when the M23 took control of Walikale’s territory and its capital, there have been constant clashes with the DRC army and its allied militias until the rebels were forced to retreat on Wednesday.
“We call on the Congolese state to continue reinforcing the army troops and boosting their morale so that they can pursue the rebels who have retreated towards the Walikale-Goma and Nyabonda axes. This will enhance the security of these areas,” he added.
The director of the Walikale General Hospital, François Bushu, told EFE that the violence perpetrated by the rebels against the civilian population was “extreme” and that many people were injured “while resisting forced recruitment.”
“We received many wounded, mostly civilians, but also military. We have also received bodies of civilians, and many of these bodies have been buried the same day due to lack of space in the morgue, where it is difficult to preserve them,” Bushu said.
According to civil society, many residents who fled from the conflict are returning, even though a considerable part of the infrastructure was destroyed during the clashes between the M23, the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC), and the Wazalendo (patriots in Swahili, militias allied to the army).
The conflict in the east of the DRC escalated in late January 2025 when the rebel group took Goma, the capital of North Kivu, and Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu, both bordering Rwanda, are rich in minerals such as gold and coltan, essential for the technology industry and the manufacture of mobile phones.
Since the intensification of the M23 offensive, backed by Rwanda (according to the United Nations and countries such as the United States, , and ), some 1.2 million people have been displaced in these two provinces, according to the UN’s International Organization for Migration.
In addition, the clashes that broke out in Goma and the surrounding areas in January left over 8,500 people dead, according to the Congolese Minister of Public Health, Samuel Roger Kamba, in late February.
Armed activity by the M23, a group made up mainly of Tutsis who suffered in the 1994 Rwandan genocide, resumed in North Kivu in November 2021 with attacks against the Congolese army.
Since then, it has advanced on several fronts, raising fears of a possible regional war.
Despite the presence of the UN peacekeeping mission (MONUSCO), the eastern DRC has been embroiled in a conflict between rebel militias and the army since 1998. EFE
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