Mechanical excavators have spent days digging the dark, volcanic land of Goma, in which long trenches were prepared, in which the Republic of the Republic buried the victims of the deadliest battles in decades in the Congo. ۔
In the Hazmat suit, humanitarian workers and flip flops and dirty masks were inclined towards men in the mid -stench.
“We have mass burial of the day,” said Mary Fewier, head of the Red Cross International Committee in Goma.
According to preliminary estimates provided by the UN peace process in eastern Congo, about 3,000 people were killed in Goma last week. The fighting between the M33, which is a rebel group, says the United Nations says it was financed by Rwanda, and the Congress’s armed forces occupied the rebels last week.
Millions of people have been killed in the last 30 years in the Congo, where fighting for ethnic tensions and access to land and mineral resources has spread in many wars. Experts say that rarely many people have been killed in a few days.
Although most of the fighting in Goma has stopped in recent days, the arrest of the city by M33 rebels has raised a wide range of war between the Congo, Rwanda and their respective allies.
According to Vivian Van DPE, deputy head of the UN peacekeepers based in Goma, the number of casualties is low.
In the fields of Goma, many bodies still have to be collected that are inaccessible by humanitarian organizations. According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, more than 2,800 additional Congress were injured, two -thirds of them are citizens.
The ongoing conflict between troops from Eastern European tenants and troops from allied countries like Burundi and Uganda has already been drawn. UN peacekeepers who have been stationed in East Congo for a dozen years, both sides have alleged that they are not doing enough to end the fighting.
The M -3 launched its attacker in Goma on January 26, and was completely captured by the city on January 30 after a long period of aggressive aggression. More than 700,000 people have been displaced.
In front of the city airport on Tuesday, dozens of volunteers and Red Cross workers in large graves have already dug the victims into a crowded cemetery.
Ms Four said that the land that can be buried in Goma is limited. The city has been abducted by Rwanda on its east bank, lake on its southern coast, and camps in the home -controlled areas of the M -23 in the eastern and northern areas.
Rwanda has refused to support the M33, even UN officials have highlighted how its military and intelligence services train rebels to train, arm and command. Experts say Rwanda tries to exploit mineral resources in eastern Congo by using M33 as a proxy group.
Since occupying Goma, M -3 fighters have been patrolling the roads riding on the Congress army caught. They wear tactical gear and carry modern automatic rifles and sophisticated electronic devices that make them the traditional army.
This week, rebel leaders threatened that 2,000 Congress have taken refuge if peace troops were not handed over to them. According to UN officials, advanced Congress military and intelligence officers, the city’s mayor and government employees are involved in keeping people safe at the base.
On Wednesday, the M33 broke the unilateral ceasefire, which announced a few days ago and occupied a village in the neighboring Goma neighbor’s southern Kevu.
For Goma, war marks are present everywhere – the leaflets on car windshields pay tribute to the men, in the schools that escaped from their homes.
Many of the victims buried this week included a famous local boxer, Jane Dave Balzi, known as Caboomingo, who was shot dead by her relatives. Mr Bolizi founded the Friendship Boxing Club, where he trained the generations of young boxers who were children’s soldiers, Recruited by armed groups like M33 in East Congo.
M33 has ordered locals to clear the streets of Goma, but they are full of military uniforms abandoned by Congress soldiers.
“Wherever I sweep, I know it,” said Anna Mapando. Ms Mapando and her husband said last week, about 20 Congress soldiers entered their home to escape from M33 fighters, who were attacking the airport, sitting behind their house.
Ms Mapando said her two sons were injured when she was in her yard. She had just returned from the hospital to bring rice and Kasawa.
Ms. Mapando’s husband, Desyry Merba, accused Congress soldiers of robbing the rebels for robbing their home. “We now feel safe with new people,” Mr Merbaba said, citing the M33. “But we know it’s very dangerous.”
In Goma on Wednesday, the city’s pockets were inaccessible to humanitarian agencies, who lost months of looting last week. Madison, rice bags and cooking oil cans were being sold throughout the city.
Last week, the frozen of foreign aid announced by the Trump administration has set a alarm on the deteriorating situation in the eastern Congo, which has already been one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises.
Kalib Kabanda Goma and co -reporting from reporting Justin McKangara From the Democratic Republic of Congo to Kansha.
