Chaotic scenes have been unfolding in Bukavu in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo as the M23 rebel group continues its offensive in the region.
On Saturday there were reports of sporadic gunfire and widespread looting in the city, including at a World Food Programme depot, with residents sheltering in their homes.
It follows conflicting reports about whether the Rwanda-backed rebels had entered the key city of Bukavu, after advances in the region. On Friday M23 fighters seized Kavumu airport, north of Bukavu.
The UN and the European Union have voiced alarm over the worsening conflict.
A threat by Uganda’s army chief to attack a Congolese town has sparked fears the conflict could flare into a wider regional war.
UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres told an African Union summit on Saturday a regional escalation must be avoided “at all costs” and there was “no military solution”.
“And the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the DRC must be respected,” Guterres continued.
The European Union said it was “urgently” considering all options following the news from Bukavu.
“The ongoing violation of the DRC’s territorial integrity will not go unanswered,” it warned.
The Congolese government accuses Rwanda of sowing chaos in the region in order to benefit from its natural resources – a claim Rwanda has denied.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been forced from their homes in recent weeks as a result of the rebel advance.
On Saturday, the streets of Bukavu were deserted as residents hid in their homes.
One woman in the city told the BBC people were avoiding going outside as gunfire rang out and youths looted and destroyed shops.
“I only have enough food for three days. As a woman it is difficult for me to go outside because I could be raped [by the looters or the armed groups]. We feel abandoned by the authorities.”
The looting included the World Food Programme’s depot in Bukavu, which housed 6,800 metric tons of food, a spokesman for the UN aid agency told the Reuters news agency.
Claude Kalinga said the stealing of supplies would deepen the difficulties faced by those in need. The agency had already suspended its activities for weeks due to the deteriorating security situation.
There have been conflicting reports over whether M23 fighters have entered Bukavu, as the group claims, and to what extent.
Two residents of the northern Bukavu suburb of Bagira said they had seen rebels on the streets and no sign of fighting.
However, an M23 source, two Congolese army officers and multiple Bukavu residents, on Saturday told Reuters that the rebels had not yet entered the city centre.
The capture of Bukavu, a city estimated to have an urban population of more than a million people, would represent an unprecedented expansion of territory under the M23’s control since the latest insurgency started in 2022.
Bukavu, which borders Rwanda, is on the southern tip of Lake Kivu and is an important transit point for the local mineral trade.
Meanwhile, on Saturday, the chief of Uganda’s defence forces, General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, said in a post on X he would attack the town of Bunia, also in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, unless “all forces” there surrendered their arms within 24 hours, igniting fears of a wider conflict.
The threat by Kainerugaba, whose father is the president of Uganda, adds to fears that the region risks slipping back into a broader war reminiscent of conflicts in the 1990s and 2000s which killed millions.
Uganda’s military since 2021 has supported the Congolese army in its fight against Islamist militants in the east, but UN experts say Uganda has also backed the M23 group.
The mineral-rich east of the Democratic Republic of Congo has been dogged by conflict for more than 30 years, since the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
The instability has sucked in neighbouring countries to devastating effect – notoriously in the 1990s when two huge conflicts, dubbed Africa’s World Wars, resulted in the deaths of millions of people.
