Civilians in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo are once again bearing the brunt of renewed fighting, as fierce clashes between the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC) and the March 23 Movement/Alliance Fleuve Congo (M23/AFC) rebels resume after a brief period of calm.
The renewed violence has triggered massive displacement, with communities in Kabunambo and surrounding areas along National Road Number 5 in the Ruzizi Plain, as well as Sange, Mikenge, and Bidegu in South Kivu Province, forced to flee their homes.
Traffic along the key highway has also been disrupted.The escalation follows a temporary lull after a March 11, 2026, drone strike in the Himbi area near Lake Kivu in Goma City, North Kivu Province, which killed three people, including Carine Buisset, a French national working with UNICEF.
Between Monday night and Tuesday morning, heavy gunfire resumed, raising fears of further humanitarian deterioration.
The FARDC has not yet issued an official statement on the latest clashes. However, Lawrence Kanyuka, the political spokesperson of the M23/AFC rebels, accused government forces and their allies of targeting both rebel positions and civilian-populated areas.
“The generalized war imposed by the Kinshasa regime is taking a new turn along the main RN5 road, in the Ruzizi plain. Since 6:40 a.m., its forces have been carrying out intense shelling with heavy artillery against the densely populated Kabunambo area, sowing death and desolation, and triggering the massive displacement of innocent civilian populations.
In the face of this escalation of extreme gravity, silence is neither acceptable nor tolerable,” he said.Adding that, “These crimes cannot be minimized or ignored by the national and international community.
The AFC/M23 forcefully and determinedly reaffirms its unwavering commitment to defend and protect civilian populations as well as their property in the face of this methodical campaign of terror orchestrated by the Kinshasa regime.
On the night of March 16 to 17, 2026, the combined forces of the Kinshasa regime, including the FDNB, FDLR, mercenaries, and the Wazalendo militias, carried out a bombing campaign using kamikaze drones, targeting densely populated areas of Mikenke, Bidegu, and their surroundings in Minembwe.
At present, these criminal strikes continue relentlessly.” He called upon the Congolese people as well as international public opinion to bear witness to the barbaric escalation orchestrated by the Kinshasa regime, which persists in targeting defenseless civilians in areas of high human concentration, as in the attacks carried out against the city of Goma on March 11, 2026.”The Congolese blood that this regime spills with systematic brutality will neither be ignored, nor forgotten, nor stifled by complicit silence,” Kanyuka explained in the statement.
The latest fighting suggests that ceasefire calls by international stakeholders and humanitarian organizations have largely been ignored. URN