The town of Bunagana in the province of North Kivu in the Democratic Republic of Congo celebrated the anniversary of an occupation by M23 terrorists supported by the Rwandan Armed Forces (RDF), which celebrates its first anniversary this June 13. The terrorists recovered this city without a fight and gradually expanded their territory with complete impunity, by seizing other towns. The situation has become volatile and critical for the population in the Bunagana region, where trade is still supervised by terrorists.
In response to the central government’s lethargy in the face of territorial management, civil society in Goma deplores the inaccessibility of agricultural areas for the local population, while demanding the resignation of the central government for failing to defend national sovereignty. After a year of occupation, the misery of the population in the entities under terrorist control has worsened, the population being hampered in their access to their land and to commercial exchanges.
The cohabitation between the insurgents and the Ugandan contingent of the East African state has become ineffective, prompting social actors to express their dissatisfaction with this state of affairs. Urban civil society in Goma calls on the DRC’s defense and security forces, regional forces and others, to launch offensives and clear the positions of the M23 and Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) in order to secure the region.
The President of the Republic, Félix Tshisekedi, is called upon by the population of Bunagana to take measures to remedy this situation which has persisted for an entire year. In Kinshasa, where the trends are festive in honor of his sixtieth birthday also celebrated on June 13, the president should therefore look into this important subject which undermines the tranquility of the population in North Kivu.