As Rwandan-backed M23 fighters continue to make significant advances in eastern DRC, having captured the cities of Goma and Bukavu, the conflict is now triggering warnings from the UN Security Council and fuelling fears of a wider regional crisis.
After seizing control of the town of Kamanyola, about 45 kilometres from Bukavu in South Kivu province, M23 fighters are continuing their advance further south, towards Uvira, on the shores of Lake Tanganyika.
Sporadic gunfire, looting and panic have been reported in several surrounding areas all week, including Uvira.
The United Nations warned on Wednesday that the M23 "continues to advance towards other strategic areas" in the provinces of North and South Kivu.
South Kivu's provincial capital Bukavu, home to one million people and bordering Rwanda, is roughly 50 kilometres from Burundi, which is dealing with its biggest influx of refugees in 25 years.
Some 42,000 people fled eastern DRC to Burundi in two weeks, according to the UN.
Fleeing shootings
Families are fleeing the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the United Nations refugee agency said.
"This is the largest number of refugees that Burundi has seen since the beginning of the 2000s," Brigitte Mukanga-Eno, representative for the UN refugee agency UNHCR in Burundi, told RFI on Thursday.
"Over the past few days and weeks, we have received thousands of people here in Burundi," she also told a press conference in Bujumbura, on Wednesday, estimating roughly 30,000 people had crossed.
"People are still pouring in by the thousands every day."
The Burundian government said last Monday that around 10,000 people had crossed the country's western border, fleeing the violence in the DRC.
Interior minister Martin Niteretse said the government intended to relocate the refugees to eastern Burundi, "in order to guarantee their safety". He added they would be granted refugee status.
Some 500 Congolese soldiers and police arrived in the border town of Gatumba on Wednesday, witnesses and a security source said.
The security source said they were disarmed and searched.
Amid the crisis, Congolese Catholic and Protestant leaders have launched efforts to mediate between the parties.
Donatien Nshole, Secretary General of the National Episcopal Conference of Congo (CENCO), told RFI that war is not a solution. "We need to find a national consensus about all our issues sitting around a table," he said.
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Fear of regional war
The UN is also worried about wider consequences for the whole region.
Bintou Keita, head of the UN's DRC peacekeeping mission (Monusco), expressed concern to the UN Security Council over M23's advance. She said on Wednesday that the group was approaching the "the junction of the three borders between the DRC, Rwanda and Burundi."
Huang Xia, the UN Secretary-General's special envoy for the Great Lakes region, told the Security Council that M23 and its allies were continuing their advance towards "other strategic areas" in North and South Kivu, warning "the risk of a regional conflagration is more real than ever".
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Since October 2023, Burundi has sent more than 10,000 soldiers to help the Congolese army against the M23 and other armed groups.
Late Wednesday military and official sources said some Burundian troops were staging a "tactical withdrawal", although the army's spokesman denied any retreat.
Nshole hopes to see an international conference on peace in the Great Lakes region.
The UN Security Council acknowledged the urgency of the situation and once again condemned the actions of the M23 rebels and Rwanda’s involvement.
(with newswires)
