While the fighting between the Congolese army, supported by local armed groups called wazalendo, and the M23, supported by Rwanda, has continued to intensify since the aborted summit in Luanda on December 15, 2024, the rebel group has took control of the town of Katale on Friday January 3. Located some 70 kilometers west of Goma, the locality is considered the last barrier before the town of Masisi, capital of the territory of the same name.
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With our correspondent in Goma, Heir Baraka
The taking by the M23 of the strategic locality of Katale, approximately 70 kilometers west of Goman, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), intervened at the beginning of the afternoon of Friday January 3, according to local and security sources, after two days of violent clashes between the rebel group supported by the Rwanda on the one hand, the Congolese army and its wazalendo allies – armed groups – on the other.
For the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the fall of Katale represents an undeniable setback. The last barrier protecting the town of Masisi – the main administrative center of the region – on the road which connects it to Goma, Katale was also considered, until now, as a symbol of resistance, most of the rebellions experienced by the North Kivu having never succeeded in taking this town.
Several victims among civilians
Civil society rapporteur for the Masisi territory, Telesphore Mitondeke also deplores this advance of the M23 rebels. “ The enemy has just captured the city of Katale, causing several civilian casualties. More than a dozen injured people have already been admitted to Masisi general hospital. And we note massive displacements of populations in several towns in the region “, he says. Leaving everything behind, thousands of people actually fled on foot to the town of Masisi, particularly to Katale, Lushebere and Buguri.
A local administrative official, Thierry Muhindo, specifies for his part that these movements are linked to the general panic which has gripped the region in the face of the advance of the rebels and the numerous gunshots heard in their wake. If, at this stage, the army has not yet reacted, the spokesperson for local Wazalendo fighters, Colonel Séraphin Nsabimana, assures for his part that everything is done to respond to the capture of Katale by the M23.
Also during the day of Friday January 3, other clashes were also reported on the Minova-Bweremana axis, around forty kilometers from Goma. This advance by M23 fighters comes after the fall of the town of Kaniro and several other villages in Masisi territory on Thursday January 2.
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