DR Congo Soldiers Cross into Uganda as M23 Claim Capture of Bunagana

Dozens of soldiers from the Democratic Republic of Congo have crossed into Uganda after the M23 rebels blocked the main road to Rutshuru.

Ugandan army spokesperson Brig Gen Felix Kulaigye told the BBC that the soldiers were being received at a Ugandan army barracks at the border town of Bunagana.

A source told the BBC that some of the Congolese soldiers had arrived in military vehicles while others crossed on foot.

Reports indicate that the M23 rebels overran the Congolese side of Bunagana on Monday morning.

Pictures of overturned armoured vehicles believed to belong to the Congolese army – the FARDC, have also been shared on social media.

UN agencies say that more than 30,000 people in the Rutshuru territory of North Kivu province fled their homes over the weekend.

Hundreds have been internally displaced while others have crossed the border to Uganda.

The Ugandan side of Bunagana border town is crowded with people who have fled their homes due to the fighting over the last couple of days.

Some had wanted to return home on Monday morning, but even more, people are now fleeing the fighting.

Fighting between the government forces and the army has intensified over the last couple of weeks after the Congolese government designated the M23 as a terrorist group and refused their calls for a bilateral ceasefire or peace negotiations.

DR Congo accuses Rwanda of supporting the group made up of mainly ethnic Congolese Tutsi, but the government in Kigali has continually denied these accusations.

Meanwhile, the M23 rebels in eastern DR Congo claim to have captured the border town of Bunagana near Uganda, according to their spokesman.

“We control the whole of the town now,” Willy Ngoma, the M23 spokesman told BBC Great Lakes.

The claim follows heavy fighting between the army and rebels that on Monday saw some government soldiers cross over to Uganda, the UN-backed Radio Okapi reports citing sources.

The DR Congo authorities have not yet commented on M23’s claim.

Army spokesperson Lt Col Guillaume Ndjike Kaiko said he would comment on this “later”, but a statement on Sunday night had said they repelled an attack by the rebels in Bunagana.

The UN says that more than 30,000 people have been displaced by the latest fighting.

Bunagana town is strategic in cross-border trade and is located some 70km (43 miles) north-east of Goma, the capital of North Kivu province.

The town served as M23’s base when they captured Goma in November 2012 before they lost the war and fled to Uganda.

BBC/Simeon Ugbodovon