Congolese refugees fleeing into Rwanda described neighbors being slaughtered and children lost amid the chaos, as renewed fighting erupted despite a peace deal brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump.
“I have 10 children, but I am here with only three,” said Akilimali Mirindi, 40, speaking to Agence France-Presse (AFP) at the Nyarushishi refugee camp in Rwanda’s Rusizi district. “I don’t know what happened to the other seven, or to their father.”
About 1,000 Congolese have sought refuge at the camp after fresh clashes flared in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The Rwanda-backed M23 armed group, which has seized large swaths of eastern Congo over the past year, has intensified its advance, capturing another key city, Uvira.
Thousands have fled as civilians are again caught in the crossfire between the M23, Congolese forces and their allies.
Mirindi was living in Kamanyola, near the Rwanda border, when bombs began falling, destroying her house.
“Many people died, young and old. I saw corpses as we fled, jumping over some of them. I decided to cross into Rwanda with the others,” she said.
Trump hosted the presidents of Rwanda and Congo, Paul Kagame and Felix Tshisekedi, on Dec. 4 for talks aimed at ending the conflict, but the new offensive was already underway as they met.
“It’s clear there is no understanding between Kagame and Tshisekedi. If they don’t reach an understanding, the war will continue,” said Thomas Mutabazi, 67, at the refugee camp.
“Bombs were raining down on us from different directions – some from the Congolese army and Burundian soldiers, some from the M23 as they returned fire,” he said.
“We had to leave our families and our fields. We know nothing about politics, yet we and our families bear the brunt of the war.”
The camp sits on a hill flanked by tea plantations and is supported by aid from the United Nations, the World Food Programme and other organizations.
It has dormitories and a football field for children, but residents – mostly women and children – said their homes and farmland were looted or destroyed by soldiers.
Jeanette Bendereza, 37, had already fled Kamanyola once this year during an earlier M23 offensive, escaping to Burundi in February with her four children.
“We came back when they told us peace had returned. We found the M23 in charge,” she said.
Then the violence resumed.
“We were used to a few bullets, but within a short time bombs started falling from Burundian fighters. That’s when we started running.”
Burundi has sent troops to support Congo’s army and has grown increasingly alarmed as the M23 captures towns and villages along its border.
“I ran with neighbors to Kamanyola. We could hear the bombs following us. I don’t know where my husband is now,” Bendereza said, adding that she lost her phone in the chaos.
Olinabangi Kayibanda, 56, said he tried to remain in Kamanyola as the fighting began.
“But when we started seeing people dying and others losing limbs from the bombs – even children were dying – we decided to flee,” he said.
“I saw a neighbor killed when her house was bombed. She died with her two children inside. She was also pregnant.”
