While the vagueness of the events around Kishishe on November 29 remains, no independent investigator was able to go there and the words of witnesses are rare. The Democratic Republic of Congo and the UN have accused the M23 group of murder, rape and looting, causing 131 deaths according to the UN, 272 according to the authorities, 8 according to the armed group. Return to this part of North Kivu with the survivors.
With our correspondent in Goma, Coralie Pierret
Young people play billiards in a maquis in the province of North Kivu. It’s been a few days since Jean-Marie (the first name has been changed) moved next door. For this notable from the village of Kishishe, you have to go back a week before the tragedy to understand the sequence of events:
” We were surprised to see the M23 take control of the town. Congolese FARDC soldiers fled the village after fighting for a few minutes. Around 10 a.m., calm returned. I went out to check what had happened in the village and at that moment I saw a man and his three children injured by shrapnel. »
The next day, November 24, M23 elements organized a meeting to introduce themselves to the population… before leaving Kishishe in the direction of Mozambique, the headquarters of the FDLR, a rebel group of Hutu and Rwandan origin based in eastern DRC since the genocide of the Tutsi in 1994. For several days, the M23 tracked these FDLR in the area.
” On the 27th, some FDLR entered our home in Kishishe. Then they left. But after they left, an armed group called Maimai arrived. We begged these fighters to leave and retreat to the bush. Their armament could not cope with the M23. But unfortunately they didn’t listen to us and stayed. »
On November 29, Jean-Marie attended on the return of the M23 to Kishishe. It was only the next day that he managed to flee, on foot, and get out of the territories controlled by the M23 rebels.
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