Life seems almost normal in the streets of Lubero, but the calm is deceptive \u2014 the town nestled in the forested, misty hills of eastern DR Congo is under threat from an advancing rebel militia.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe enemy is right next door,\u201d interim mayor Crispin Hinga said gravely.<\/p>\n
The front line is now only around 50 kilometres (31 miles) away and \u201cmost people have already packed their bags\u201d, Hinga said.<\/p>\n
In the cold rain, soldiers of the Congolese armed forces (FARDC), who have been forced to retreat in recent clashes, walk the muddy streets.<\/p>\n
Fear among the town\u2019s around 100,000 souls is heightened \u2014 M23 rebels have advanced several dozen kilometres (miles) in just the last few days.<\/p>\n
The March 23 Movement (M23), an armed group supported by Rwanda and its army, has seized vast swathes of territory in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) since November 2021.<\/p>\n
For 30 years, the mineral-rich east has suffered from the ravages of fighting between local and foreign armed groups, dating back to the regional wars of the 1990s.<\/p>\n
The rebel\u2019s latest offensive was launched just ahead of a planned summit in the Angolan capital that was supposed to return peace to the region.<\/p>\n
But talks between DRC President Felix Tshisekedi and his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame were abruptly cancelled last Sunday over disagreements on the terms of a proposed peace deal.
\nMeanwhile, the fighting continues.<\/p>\n
For now, traders in central Lubero still tend to their stalls and groups of children run and play around the old brick buildings.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a bit of psychosis among the people but the administration continues to function,\u201d military administrator of the territory Alain Kiwewa said, trying to offer reassurance.<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u2018They loot\u2019 \u2013<\/p>\n
At least 100,000 people have fled fighting since December 2, the United Nations said.
\nSome are housed in local homes; others opted to flee further north.<\/p>\n
\u201cI appear calm but inside I\u2019m not calm,\u201d admitted Mumbere Wangavo, a representative of a local chieftaincy who has sought refuge with a family in Lubero.<\/p>\n
He recently returned to his village of Mbingi \u201cto bring a bit of food\u201d to those who stayed, he said.
\nGovernment forces are accused by those who fled the fighting of ransacking villages as they retreat.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re looting. In our village all the houses have been emptied, there\u2019s nothing left,\u201d one of the displaced Jeanne Masika said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are afraid of the M23 and our soldiers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Most of those interviewed did not dare to speak out in the town filled with Congolese army soldiers.<\/p>\n
Many believe that the military leaders are responsible for the rout of the Congolese forces.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow far will we be humiliated?\u201d a local official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re sending our soldiers to the front, then they abandon them and they have to retreat on foot for dozens of kilometres,\u201d another resident said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s no wonder they go looting,\u201d he added to agreement from a nearby group of people.
\nThe DRC armed forces on Friday announced a shuffle in its upper echelons.<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u2018Traitors\u2019 \u2013<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cThere are traitors in our army,\u201d said Assa Paluku Mahamba, who represents a coalition of Wazalendo (meaning \u201cPatriots\u201d in Swahili), a disparate group of militias backing the Congolese army.<\/p>\n But some members of the Wazalendo are suspected of having pulled back their forces in order to help the M23 advance.<\/p>\n A climate of suspicion and defiance is fanned by messages from the M23 flooding social media and using telephone calls to sow false information.<\/p>\n Many Lubero residents say they are convinced that \u201cenemy informants\u201d have infiltrated the town. The M23 rebellion is said to muzzle any dissent in areas under its control.<\/p>\n Opening his phone, a civil society representative receives a message from a suspected M23 informant. \u201cHave you fled yet?\u201d the person asks.<\/p>\n \u201cThey know very well who we are,\u201d a local association representative, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said, clearly worried.<\/p>\n \u201cIf they come here, I\u2019ll be forced to pack my bags.\u201d<\/p>\n The post \u2018Enemy is next door\u2019: DR Congo town dreads advancing rebels<\/a> appeared first on KBC<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Life seems almost normal in the streets of Lubero, but the calm is deceptive \u2014 the town nestled in the forested, misty hills of eastern DR Congo is under threat from an advancing rebel militia. \u201cThe enemy is right next door,\u201d interim mayor Crispin Hinga said gravely. The front line is now only around 50 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-106217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106217"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106217\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nRights campaigners and civil society representatives say they increasingly receive threats as the M23 advances.<\/p>\n