Mechanical diggers have spent days digging dark volcanic soil in the city of Goma, preparing long tides, in which the Democratic Republic of Congo has buried the victims of one of the deadliest battles for decades. For those.
Humanitarian workers in dangerous goods suits and teenagers in triggers tend to die in an overwhelming stench.
“We have days of burials on a large scale,” said Myriam Favier, head of the Goma International Red Cross Committee.
Nearly 3,000 people were killed in Goma last week, according to early estimates provided by the United Nations peacekeeping operations in eastern Congo. The battle between the UN said the rebel group M23 was funded by Rwanda, with the Congolese armed forces leading the rebels to capture Goma last week.
Millions of people have died in the Congo over the past 30 years, where racial tensions and struggles for land and mineral resources have erupted into several wars. But it is rarely killed in just a few days, experts say.
Although most of the battles in recent days have stopped at Goma, the M23 rebel attacks have raised concerns about a wider war between Congo, Rwanda and its respective allies.
According to Vivian Van de Perre, deputy head of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Goma, the death toll may be underestimated.
Many bodies must still be collected in areas that cannot be reached by humanitarian organizations in the Goma region. According to the ICRC, more than 2,800 additional Congolese people were injured, nearly two-thirds of whom were civilians.
The ongoing conflict has already sparked mercenaries in Eastern Europe, as well as soldiers from allies such as Burundi and Uganda. Both sides accused UN peacekeeping personnel deployed in eastern Congo for more than a decade and did not do enough to end the fight.
The M23 launched an invasion of Goma on January 26 and launched a month-long attack on January 30, and completely occupied the city on January 30. More than 700,000 people were displaced.
Dozens of volunteers and Red Cross workers buried victims in an already crowded cemetery before the city airport on Tuesday.
Ms. Farville said the land where the bodies can be buried in Goma was restricted. The city is stranded by the eastern side of Rwanda, Lake Kivu on the south bank and campgrounds on its displaced and M23-controlled territory in its eastern and northern regions.
Rwanda also denied support for the M23, even as officials from the United Nations highlighted how its military and intelligence agencies trained, armed and commanded the rebels. Experts say Rwanda is trying to leverage mineral resources in eastern Congo by using M23 as a proxy group.
Since the capture of Goma, the M23’s fighter jets have been patrolling the vehicles captured by the Congolese army. They wear tactical equipment and carry modern automatic rifles and exquisite electronics to make them look like traditional army.
This week, rebel leaders threatened to attack a UN base, with 2,000 Congolese shelter if peacekeepers are not handed over. According to UN officials, those protected at the base include senior Congolese military and intelligence personnel, the city’s mayor and civil servants.
On Wednesday, M23 broke a unilateral ceasefire announced a few days ago and captured a village near the South Kief province of Goma.
The scars of the Battle of Goma are everywhere – on the windshield of the car carrying leaflets of the dead, in the school that receives families fleeing their homes.
According to his relatives, among the many victims buried this week, a well-known local boxer, Jean de Dieu Balezi, known as Kibomango, who Killed by a wandering bullet. Mr. Balezi founded the Friendship Boxing Club, where he trained generations of young boxers recruited by armed groups such as M23 in eastern Congo.
M23 has ordered locals to clean the streets of Goma, but they still littered the military uniforms abandoned by Congolese soldiers.
“I find these wherever I sweep,” said Anna Mapendo, who showed dozens of bullets collected in her yard. Ms. Mapendo and her husband said about 20 Congolese soldiers broke into their home last week to escape the M23 fighter jets attacking the airport, which is located behind the house.
Ms Mapendo said their two sons were injured by bullets in their yard. She had just returned from the hospital and brought them rice and cassava.
Ms. Mapendo’s husband Désiré Mirimba accused Congolese soldiers of plundering their houses while fleeing the rebels. “We feel safe with new people now,” said Mr Mirimba. “But we know it’s very unstable.”
In Goma, the city’s pockets remained unfulfilled against humanitarian agencies that lost months of aid last week. Medicines, rice in the World Food Program and cooking oil tanks throughout the city.
The Trump administration’s freeze of foreign aid announced last week has raised an alarm about the worsening situation in eastern Congo, which is already one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises.
Caleb Kabanda Goma and Justin Makangara From Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
